Join the Center for Constitutional Rights for oral argument in Bronner v. Duggan, a lawsuit filed against the American Studies Association (ASA) and some of its former leaders for a 2013 resolution endorsing the academic boycott of Israel. The Center for Constitutional Rights represents Steven Salaita, one of the defendants in this case. Arguments begin at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 1, and this case is the third argument of the day.

Watch the livestream of the oral argument on the D.C. Court of Appeals' YouTube page. 

BACKGROUND: In 2013, two-thirds of American Studies Assocation (ASA) members voted to join a boycott of Israeli academic institutions as part of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Four professors originally sued the ASA and some of its leaders in federal court, claiming that the vote had violated the group’s by-laws and that its officers had breached their fiduciary duties. In 2018, they amended the suit to add several defendants, including Steven Salaita, even though he had joined the ASA board two years after the vote. A federal court dismissed the lawsuit in 2019, and the plaintiffs promptly filed a nearly identical complaint in the D.C. Superior Court. Defendants filed a motion to dismiss under a D.C. law to deter SLAPPs, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. The court initially denied the anti-SLAPP motion, but in response to an appeal by Salaita and the other defendants, the D.C. Court of Appeals ordered the court to reanalyze the case, resulting in dismissal. The plaintiffs appealed. For more information, visit the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case page.