{"id":9402,"date":"2025-06-24T00:52:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T00:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/9402\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T00:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T00:52:08","slug":"federal-judge-denies-amy-wax-a-preliminary-injunction-in-her-breach-of-contract-case-against-penn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/9402\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge denies Amy Wax a preliminary injunction in her breach of contract case against Penn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"amy-wax-4\"\/
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

A judge denied Amy Wax a preliminary injunction on June 23 in her case involving sanctions Penn placed against her.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCredit: Jesse Zhang<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A United States district judge has denied University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Amy Wax a preliminary injunction in her ongoing lawsuit against the University, which alleges that the sanctions Penn levied against her are racially discriminatory and violate core principles of the First Amendment.\n<\/p>\n

The opinion \u2014 filed June 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania \u2014 came after Wax filed a motion in March seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the University from implementing her suspension for the 2025-26 academic year and to restore her named chair position at Penn Carey Law. Following oral arguments on June 16, the court concluded that \u201cWax will not suffer irreparable harm in the absence of a preliminary injunction.\u201d\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cWax fails to link the sanctions to any clearly defined, non-monetary harm,\u201d Judge Timothy Savage wrote in his opinion. \u201cBecause she has not met her burden on the threshold factor of irreparable harm, we need not address the remaining factors in the preliminary injunction analysis.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

In her motion for an injunction, Wax alleged that the University\u2019s actions harm her \u201creputation and continue to violate her civil rights\u201d under federal law. Savage wrote that Wax had failed to prove that the University\u2019s actions led to imminent reputational harm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat effect the sanctions may have on her reputation has already occurred,\u201d he wrote. \u201cShe has been publicly disciplined and reprimanded. The sanctions have been publicized. Her suspension was announced. An injunction will not erase that record.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Savage added that despite Wax\u2019s request to \u201cprohibit Penn from disciplining her in the future,\u201d such action is \u201cspeculative\u201d and \u201cnot imminent.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

In response to a request for comment, a University spokesperson told The Daily Pennsylvanian that it typically does not offer comment on pending litigation. A request for comment was also left with Wax\u2019s lawyer.\n<\/p>\n

Wax\u2019s initial 53-page complaint<\/a> \u2014 filed on Jan. 16 \u2014 contended that the University\u2019s speech policy broke several federal laws. The lawsuit alleged that Penn violated Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the former of which prohibits racial discrimination for programs that receive federal funding and the latter of which prohibits racial discrimination in employment.\n<\/p>\n

Wax\u2019s complaint primarily disputed sanctions that the University placed on Wax<\/a> and upheld in September 2024, following her history of discriminatory remarks and two years of disciplinary proceedings.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

After receiving reports from students, faculty, and staff regarding Wax\u2019s public remarks, Penn Carey Law\u2019s dean initiated the process for disciplinary action \u2014 including a hearing \u2014 as prescribed in Penn\u2019s Faculty Handbook.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The suit also alleged that Penn violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by \u201cfailing to accommodate reasonably\u2014or even minimally\u2014Professor Wax\u2019s then-ongoing cancer treatments,\u201d as well as the University faculty contract that gives employees protection under the First Amendment.\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\tSign up for our newsletter<\/p>\n

Get our newsletter, DP Daybreak, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.<\/p>\n

Following the hearing, former Penn President Liz Magill reviewed the produced report and accepted the recommended sanctions, which included a one-year suspension at half pay, the removal of Wax\u2019s named chair, and a requirement for Wax to note in public appearances that she is not speaking on behalf of Penn Carey Law.\n<\/p>\n

In response to Wax\u2019s suit, the University Board of Trustees moved<\/a> to dismiss the case, arguing that Wax failed to state and support her claims.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reiterate that this is not a First Amendment case. It is a breach of contract case,\u201d Savage wrote. \u201cWax\u2019s efforts to characterize it otherwise are of no avail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation<\/a> to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.<\/p>\n

Donate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge denied Amy Wax a preliminary injunction on June 23 in her case involving sanctions Penn placed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[10436,8431,5229,8433,8432,1907,8430,10437,50,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-9402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-academics","9":"tag-academics-faculty","10":"tag-america","11":"tag-app-top-news","12":"tag-beats","13":"tag-breaking","14":"tag-centerpiece","15":"tag-federal-action","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-pa","18":"tag-pennsylvania","19":"tag-philadelphia","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114735608139503293","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}