Judge grants pro-Palestinian students permission to intervene in Brandeis Center lawsuit |

U.S. District Court Judge James Donato granted permission to a group of six UC Berkeley students involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus on October 25. This makes them defendant-intervenors at UC Berkeley in a case court case filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, alleging the campus failed to combat anti-Semitism.

The court’s decision to allow these six students to intervene will allow them to raise additional defenses that “UC Berkeley is not permitted to raise,” the judge’s order said.

The motion to intervene was filed by the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration & Immigrant Rights and Fight For Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), and pro-Palestinian students and activists.

The Brandeis Center’s lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the campus to enforce its nondiscrimination policy. It would also require the campus to defund and prevent recognition of campus organizations that exclude Jewish students, especially those with anti-Zionist statutes.

Although some third parties were denied intervention due to limited direct ties to the campus, the court’s order specifically allowed these students to join the case based on their membership in student organizations that had drafted or adopted contested anti-Zionist statutes , or their track record of involvement in activities. disputed by the plaintiffs, such as participation in the pro-Palestinian encampment.

At a press conference Monday, attorney, BAMN organizer and UC Berkeley School of Law alumnus Ronald Cruz claimed it is actually a pro-Palestinian speech that “faces censorship and discrimination under the pretext of being anti-Semitic.”

Cruz said the purpose of the lawsuit is to “de-recognize” and debunk pro-Palestinian student organizations, claiming the Brandeis Center wants to “censor speech.”

In order to conduct the proceedings, the court imposed conditions on the student interveners, such as limiting them to hearing arguments regarding the plaintiffs’ claims. They also may not “repeat, repeat or amplify” the arguments presented, or refer to harassment or discrimination, which could be raised in a separate lawsuit, according to the court’s order.

“The judge denied the motion largely because the intervention topics, such as anti-fascism, are not relevant to this lawsuit,” Brandeis Center general counsel L. Rachel Lerman asserted. “This case is about helping Jewish students on campus. Some of their rhetoric was extreme and off-topic, claiming we were trying to silence them, which is not the case. The Center respects the First Amendment, and we believe that UC Berkeley’s attorneys, who are excellent, will adequately address any free speech concerns.”

Campus declined to comment on the approved intervention.

Donato will also decide on the campus motion reject according to the BAMN press release.