Judge Lee Yeakel, a federal district judge in Austin, has declined to issue a temporary injunction on the campus carry law. The request for the injunction came in a lawsuit brought by UT Austin professors Jennifer Lynn Glass, Lisa Moore and Mia Carter.
The law, which was passed in 2015 and went into effect on August 1, allows people with a license to carry to bring a concealed handgun into most places on public college and university campuses in Texas. Professors are allowed to ban guns from their private offices, though people are allowed to carry in classrooms. The professors argued in their lawsuit that the presence of weapons in the classroom would stifle discussion, violating the First Amendment.
They had asked the judge to put a hold on the law before classes begin on Wednesday.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had called the lawsuit "frivolous" in a brief filed in the case.
While Yeakel delcined to issue an injunction to temporarily halt the law, saying the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they would likely succeed on the arguments presented, he did not rule on the merits of the case.
Read Yeakel's order below:
