A federal judge in Austin has temporarily blocked key parts of Texas’ new law limiting expression on campuses, halting the University of Texas System’s enforcement of a ban on overnight expression and limits on speakers, amplified sounds and drums during the last two weeks of the semester.

U.S. District Judge David A. Ezra on Oct. 14 said the student groups who brought the case are likely to succeed on their claims that Senate Bill 2972 violates their First Amendment rights and would be irreparably harmed without relief. He wrote that the clause added to the law by the Legislature instructing universities to uphold the First Amendment “does not change the fact that the statute then requires universities to adopt policies that violate those very constitutional protections.”

“The Court can

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