Many people have asked when a decision will come from recent oral argument at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Another common question: after a ruling, what’s next?

The Second Circuit issues two types of rulings: Summary Orders and Written Decisions.

A summary order is a very brief order, typically denying appellant’s petition.  This type of order is usually made without approximately two weeks of the oral argument.  So, no news is good news – for now.

A written decision can take a very long time – up to a year!  If the second circuit issues a written decision, it may or may not side with students.

The decision might take any number of forms.  Some possibilities:

• Denial of the petition: This means that the district court order stands, and the college officials are granted immunity.  If this happens, the students can appeal to an en banc panel of the court, asking the other judges to review their colleagues’ decision.  There will likely also be direct action in New Paltz in response to this decision.
• Remand with questions: In this case, the court might send the case back to district court with some additional questions for the district court judge to answer.  Once these matters of law are resolved, the case might proceed to discovery or it might still be dismissed.
• Reversal in whole or in part: The second circuit might reverse all or part of the district court decision and remand the case for discovery.  This is the best scenario for student free speech.

As soon as a decision is released, it will be posted here on CampusCoup.org.

Justin posted a recap of Friday’s oral argument on his blog.  Read it here.

The United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit will hear Oral Agument in the “New Paltz Free Speech Case,” Holmes and Partington v. Poskanzer et. al. (Docket # 08-1475)

Currently the date is set for the week of June 22, 2009.

The argument will determine whether the defendants, including SUNY New Paltz officials Steven Poskanzer and David Rooney, are entitled to immunity, which they have requested.  In order to receive immunity, SUNY must show that the students’ accusations do not allege bad-faith conduct.

However, the students allege numerous acts of misconduct, including:

• using taxpayer dollars to campaign in a student election
• using taxpayer dollars to hold secret breakfast meetings to slander student officials
• falsifying official documents
• filing perjurious police reports
• failing to intervene after judicial committee rules were blatantly violated
• telling faculty members that they were “looking for an opportunity to get rid of the worst troublemakers” on campus, and mentioning specific students by name

For more information about this controversy, including evidence showing that each of these allegations are true, please download and watch Campus Coup, an eighty-six minute documentary about this controversy.