Pushback: Arizona drops trespassing charges against student for handing out the Constitution at Arizona State U
Tim Tizon (r) discussing free speech with another student on
March 3, 2022 at that banned YAL table on the ASU campus.
They’re coming for you next: Today’s story is a followup of a February blacklist story. Tim Tizon, a Arizona State University (ASU) student at the time of the incident in March 2022, had been charged with trespass by the university when he set up a Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) table on campus to hand out free copies of the U.S. Constitution.
The location was a designated space for free speech and had not been reserved by anyone. His table was not blocking anything, as numerous witness testified. Yet, school officials showed up and demanded he leave, moving his table to a remote part of the campus where no one would see it. Apparently, Arizona State University officials were uncomfortable with the ideals of freedom and law as stated by Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Tizon however refused to move, and was charged with trespass, convicted, and sentenced to a fine $300 plus fifteen hours of community service.
Tizon then hired Liberty Justice Center (LJC) to fight the conviction. You can read his appeal here [pdf].
This week LJC announced a complete victory.
Rather than defend the obvious violation of Tizon’s First Amendment rights, the State filed a court motion announcing that it would drop the charges, vacating Tizon’s conviction and sentence.
While neither the state, the university, or its officials paid any direct cost for their illegal and goonish actions, the case has set a strong precedent for conservatives on Arizona campuses. Should another student from the Young Americans for Liberty decide to set up their own table, they will have this story to give them not only the moral strength but also a unbreakable legal case to resist any further storm-trooper actions by college authorities.
It is therefore now essential that more tables be set up and more Constitutions handed out. Such actions will likely bring more goons out to try to silence free speech, but not only will they be unable to censor anything — short of committing violence — their actions will expose them to the world for the goons they are.
One more note: A clear and positive legal pattern has been developing in the past year. Again and again the individuals who were blacklisted or oppressed legally by the modern blacklist culture but decided to fight their cases in the courts have been winning legally. It appears that our legal system is not yet so corrupted that it won’t defend the basic rights outlined in our fundamental founding documents.
That almost none of these victories have cost the blacklisters directly however is not a good thing. If there were any court or settlement costs the government (that is the taxpayers) have paid. Nor has almost anyone been fired for illegally stifling freedom of speech or discriminating against others.
Without consequences, these control freaks are free again to abuse their power and force others to go to court to win their legal rights. Under such a situation — where one has to fight for the right to speak every time one wants to speak — freedom cannot survive.
The blacklisters must begin to suffer real penalties. If they do not, we shall continue to see a never-ending string of blacklisting stories, each one of which will act to stifle free speech in general because most people will decide it will be better to remain silent than suffer the inconvenient and pain caused by going to court for speaking out.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Tim Tizon (r) discussing free speech with another student on
March 3, 2022 at that banned YAL table on the ASU campus.
They’re coming for you next: Today’s story is a followup of a February blacklist story. Tim Tizon, a Arizona State University (ASU) student at the time of the incident in March 2022, had been charged with trespass by the university when he set up a Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) table on campus to hand out free copies of the U.S. Constitution.
The location was a designated space for free speech and had not been reserved by anyone. His table was not blocking anything, as numerous witness testified. Yet, school officials showed up and demanded he leave, moving his table to a remote part of the campus where no one would see it. Apparently, Arizona State University officials were uncomfortable with the ideals of freedom and law as stated by Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Tizon however refused to move, and was charged with trespass, convicted, and sentenced to a fine $300 plus fifteen hours of community service.
Tizon then hired Liberty Justice Center (LJC) to fight the conviction. You can read his appeal here [pdf].
This week LJC announced a complete victory.
Rather than defend the obvious violation of Tizon’s First Amendment rights, the State filed a court motion announcing that it would drop the charges, vacating Tizon’s conviction and sentence.
While neither the state, the university, or its officials paid any direct cost for their illegal and goonish actions, the case has set a strong precedent for conservatives on Arizona campuses. Should another student from the Young Americans for Liberty decide to set up their own table, they will have this story to give them not only the moral strength but also a unbreakable legal case to resist any further storm-trooper actions by college authorities.
It is therefore now essential that more tables be set up and more Constitutions handed out. Such actions will likely bring more goons out to try to silence free speech, but not only will they be unable to censor anything — short of committing violence — their actions will expose them to the world for the goons they are.
One more note: A clear and positive legal pattern has been developing in the past year. Again and again the individuals who were blacklisted or oppressed legally by the modern blacklist culture but decided to fight their cases in the courts have been winning legally. It appears that our legal system is not yet so corrupted that it won’t defend the basic rights outlined in our fundamental founding documents.
That almost none of these victories have cost the blacklisters directly however is not a good thing. If there were any court or settlement costs the government (that is the taxpayers) have paid. Nor has almost anyone been fired for illegally stifling freedom of speech or discriminating against others.
Without consequences, these control freaks are free again to abuse their power and force others to go to court to win their legal rights. Under such a situation — where one has to fight for the right to speak every time one wants to speak — freedom cannot survive.
The blacklisters must begin to suffer real penalties. If they do not, we shall continue to see a never-ending string of blacklisting stories, each one of which will act to stifle free speech in general because most people will decide it will be better to remain silent than suffer the inconvenient and pain caused by going to court for speaking out.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Not A Shot Was Fired:
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Shot-Fired-Jan-Kozak/dp/189264701X
Sound familiar?
“Jan Kozak explains how the people of Czechoslovakia were manipulated into voting themselves into slavery. Through targeted mass agitation, a free government was transformed into a totalitarian dictatorship — legally! Today more than ever, the revolutionary methods described by Kozak are being targeted against American liberties.”
We can’t be allowed to be more of the same kinds of upsarts.as were our forefathers/foremothers
Speaking of politics…
This guy is so unknown, that I do not think he has a chance, but he himself states his goal is to get certain topics into the converstaion.
https://audioboom.com/posts/8271053-can-you-handle-the-truth-with-vivek-ramaswamy
(long form interview with Mike Rowe., 1:34.39).
One of his “planks” is making political expression a civil right. That takes the 1st Amdt. protections to a new level. I am not sure how that can be balanced with other rights, but it would be an interesting conversation to force on the media and the left in general.
He has some other ideas that are worth discussions also.
Minor edit in second paragraph after quote: “ be unable to censor anything “
Andi: Thank you as always. My word malaprops are becoming increasingly weird with time.
Oh, the university dropped the charges? How nice. Now sue their butts off in civil court. You can use the Constitution for evidence.
I remember a time when a “space for free speech” was pretty much wherever someone decided to speak. Having a “designated space for free speech” implies that there are places on campus where you cannot speak.
There are too many snowflakes that melt under the blazing heat of the truth.
sippin_bourbon–
I’d happily go for: Trump / Vivek 2024.
[btw– rhymes with “cake”]
Michael Malice: Your Welcome Ep256
Vivek Ramaswamy (April 26, 2023)
https://youtu.be/zVAPNtTHoC0
1:12:49
I attend ASU. There are several issues here that don’t make sense.
First, there are printed copies if the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights hanging in every ASU classroom.
This incident can’t be simply about handing out copies of the Constitution.
ASU has numbers printed on the concrete where student organizations are allowed to reserve a table setup for handing out literature. Everyone knows about the rule. But students are allowed to walk about and hand out stuff too.
I don’t know if this student had a table. But he could walk around the mall handing out copies without an issue. Some people stand at mall intersections and hand out coupon books. I’ve seen religious people standing there also handing out bibles with their extras in a box by their feet.
If the photo at the top is correct, that is a location that needs to be reserved, even if no one was using the space.
I don’t know if there is a charge to rent the spaces on the mall. I’ve never joined a club or had a reason to distribute materials on campus.
I’d like to read a story about this without an agenda from either side. But I like to read that about any issue in the US but that doesn’t seem possible these days.
Brio: The picture comes from the lawsuit complaint, to which I provide a link. Though it is obviously the point of view of Tizon, it provides all the details which explains why ASU backed down so completely. They were in the wrong.
What has been happening frequently on college campuses is that some administrative thug or teacher decides free speech means only their speech. They then act independently (and ignorantly) of the college to intimidate students. I suspect that is what happened here, and it is almost certainly why ASU did not fight the case.
And you might want to spend some time reading some of the stories listed here. I stand for freedom and free speech, for everyone. There are a handful of examples in that list where I reported blacklisting of people on the left, though only a few. Almost all the oppression today is from the left. If that makes me appear partisan to you than you merely are using that fact as an excuse to make believe none of this is happening.
Robert: I do not need to read links about issues at universities around the country. I have been through it myself at ASU. I was banned from my department for a year when I was accused of not following department policies.
I was following the policies but I was not given due process. I found no one nor any office on campus to help me. I stayed away for 2 years because it was during the scamdemic and classes were held on-line. When I came back, the department (including the director) were still biased against me. They tried to ban me again just for returning to the building, but my police report said I was banned for a year. It took the intervention of a dean to allow me to return to classes.
My reputation was established because I wore a MAGA cap for several years in the department. On top of that, I reported irregularities with student worker hours (workers not present during their assigned times), and the arbitrary application of policies based on favoritism (sound familiar?). I was accused of being a misogynist and racist because a female Dreamer overheard me saying I was against DACA.
To this day, when I asked roughly 10 offices (including the dean and provost), no one can tell me where I can file a complaint against the professor who accused me of not following policies.
I tried contacting FIRE but they wouldn’t help me. I hadn’t heard about Liberty Justice Center until this story.
I plan to write up my side of events and deliver a copy to the dean and department. Nothing will happen, but I want my side on record since I was never given a chance to defend myself before an ASU department banned me (from their department, not from all of ASU).
“If that makes me appear partisan to you than you merely are using that fact as an excuse to make believe none of this is happening.”
I am not accusing you of partisanship. I probably agree with you on 95% of the issues. I am just being naive by wanting both sides of any issue to report just the facts and leave their prejudices/agendas out of it.
But I doubt that hasn’t been the case for decades.