{"id":51272,"date":"2025-09-22T17:04:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2025\/09\/22\/west-point-violating-first-amendment-with-professor-crackdown-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:25:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:25:54","slug":"west-point-violating-first-amendment-with-professor-crackdown-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2025\/09\/22\/west-point-violating-first-amendment-with-professor-crackdown-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"West Point violating First Amendment with professor crackdown: Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK \u2014 The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is banning opinions by professors in the classroom and some books and courses in a crackdown that violates the First Amendment, a law professor at the military school said in a lawsuit Monday seeking class action status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Bakken filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court and named the school and its leaders as defendants. He said he wants to protect free speech and the right to academic freedom at an institution where he has flourished despite his public criticisms of the academy and the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bakken also noted in the lawsuit that he has a contract with a publisher for a book that is critical of some aspects of West Point and doesn\u2019t want to seek approval from the school\u2019s leadership prior to its publication because \u201cit is very likely such approval will be withheld.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t