The LSU University Court has issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against a Student Senate bill limiting outside election influence.

The bill, SGB 22, was passed by the Senate on April 2. Four days later, on April 6, Student Body President Lavar Henderson vetoed the bill due to concerns of it violating the First Amendment.

The Senate then met on April 9 and voted to override the veto, passing the bill without Henderson’s signature.

SGB 22 aims to ban funding from politically affiliated organizations to Student Government tickets.

The order from the Court comes from the legal opinion of the Vice President of LSU’s General Counsel, Trey Jones.

Jones’ opinion concludes that the bill is of “questionable constitutionality” for imposing content-based limitations on political speech.

In his written opinion, Jones cited Citizens United v. FEC, in which the Supreme Court ruled that political spending is a form of protected speech. Therefore, political contributions are protected under the First Amendment.

“Student elections do not create a unique exception that lets officials pick and choose “acceptable” political donors,” Jones wrote.

While author of the bill, Sen. Luke Ducote said the bill is entirely apolitical, the Court found the bill was not “viewpoint-neutral” and is not likely to meet constitutional requirements around governing political speech and association.

As a result of the order, SGB 22 is unable to be enforced or implemented despite overriding the veto.

Sen. Konnor Crowder, co-author of the bill, told the Reveille he thinks the bill should stand due to the support it received. 

“The Student Senate has voted twice; the veto session did better than the original vote; the bill stands,” Crowder said. “The Senate represents the student body with diverse perspectives, and what we voted on should be implemented.”

The Court will conduct further investigation to determine whether or not to maintain the injunction.