No. 20-1066October Term 2020Decided Jul 2, 2021Updated Jul 2, 2021
Hoggard v. Rhodes
A student sued Arkansas State University officials and trustees, claiming they violated her First Amendment rights by making her move a table from an area reserved for registered student groups.
Case status
Decided · July 2, 2021
Read the opinion (PDF)- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Jul 2, 2021
- What it's about
A student sued Arkansas State University officials and trustees, claiming they violated her First Amendment rights by making her move a table from an area reserved for registered student groups. The case asks whether those officials can be held personally liable or are protected by qualified immunity because prior court decisions did not clearly establish that their conduct was unconstitutional.
Question presented
Whether high-ranking University administrators and members of the Board of Trustees, none of whom enforced the Tabling Policy against petitioner or created that policy, are entitled to qualified immunity and therefore not personally liable to petitioner because lower-level university officials asked petitioner to move a table out of a limited designated public forum reserved for registered student organizations, and the most analogous binding precedent at the time had upheld similar and more burdensome policies against First Amendment challenges.
- Case path
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit / Decision released Jul 2, 2021
- Area
First Amendment
Timing
Decided July 2, 2021
The Court released its decision on July 2, 2021 without hearing oral argument.
Documents
Activity
Docket activity2
Opinion added: Opinion
Jul 2, 2021 | Court records
Brief added: Petition
Jan 28, 2021 | Court records
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Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jul 25, 2026
- Method
- Methodology