Federal court to hear UW prof’s viewpoint discrimination suit over land acknowledgment
May 13, 2025, 5:04 AM | Updated: 8:56 am

Professor Stuart Reges continues his fight against the UW over a land acknowledgment joke. (Photo Courtesy of 成人X站 7)
(Photo Courtesy of 成人X站 7)
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is breathing new life into a lawsuit against the University of Washington by professor Stuart Reges over a satirical land acknowledgment.
Reges sued the school last spring after they launched an investigation into him for putting a mock land acknowledgment in his course鈥檚 syllabus. It came after the university encouraged the practice.
鈥淚 acknowledge that by the labor theory of property, the Coast Salish people can claim historical ownership of almost none of the land currently occupied by the University of Washington,鈥 the land acknowledgment read.
A district court initially ruled against Reges, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear his case on May 15.
鈥淚 like our chances here,鈥 attorney Josh Bleisch told 鈥淭he Jason Rantz Show鈥 on KTTH. He’s working with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (the FIRE).
鈥淚 think they [the Court] might agree with us that a university is a special kind of public employer. It’s not like a police department. It’s not a K-12 school. It’s a place where debate and discussion is encouraged. It’s kind of the whole point of going to university,鈥 said an optimistic Bleisch.
UW started the land acknowledgment move
Bleisch noted that it鈥檚 unfair for the school to single out Reges when they started this culture war in the first place.
鈥淭hey opened up the battlefields here, they opened up the debate. They’re the ones who said to their faculty, 鈥榟ey, it’s a good idea for you to put a land acknowledgement statement on your syllabus.鈥 They just didn’t like the political stance that Professor Reges took. And that’s viewpoint discrimination, and that’s unconstitutional.鈥
But what happens next if the court rules against Reges again?
“I think we’ll definitely look at taking this up to the Supreme Court鈥 It’s hard to predict whether they take any case, but we’ll keep fighting until we can’t anymore,鈥 said Bleisch.
Listen to The Jason Rantz Show on weekday afternoons from 3-7 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the鈥podcast here. Follow Jason on鈥,鈥鈥痑苍诲鈥.