Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist who lost her job due to the law, celebrated the ruling as "a huge win not just for me, but for everybody here in Texas."
"The right to boycott is alive and well in the United States and any attempt to suppress it puts you squarely on the wrong side of the Constitution."
—Vera Eidelman, ACLU
“BDS is a flash-point in the charged debate over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — a debate that has evolved as a left-wing flank of the Democratic Party insists on the right to criticize Israel’s government, particularly as it moves to the right under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu. The first two Muslim women in Congress, Democrats Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, are also the first two to say they support the BDS movement.”
“In a 56-page opinion, Pitman, an Obama appointee, found that the state could not prohibit boycotting the state of Israel as a condition of public employment. His holding is the third by a federal judge since last year to turn back state legislation that aims to use public money to deter anti-Israel activity.”
“The effect of the certification was to “suppress unpopular ideas” and “manipulate the public debate through coercion rather than persuasion,” Pitman wrote in his opinion Thursday, quoting from the 1994 Supreme Court case Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. v. FCC, which dealt with must-carry requirements imposed on cable television.”
“This the First Amendment does not allow,” the judge held.
Quotes from articles appearing in Common Dreams and the Washington Post
Glad to see the courts getting this one right. No American should be required to sign a loyalty oath to Israel in order to keep their employment. That’s bullshit.