West Point’s Faculty Speech Rules Meet A Subject They Cannot Silence

WEST POINT, N.Y.—The United States Military Academy may train officers to give orders, but a federal judge has ruled that it cannot require civilian professors to request permission before expressing professional opinions in public.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel permanently barred West Point from enforcing rules that required faculty approval for papers, conference appearances, podcasts and other public work tied to their academy affiliation. The judgment also prevents the school from stopping law professor Tim Bakken from offering views to students about the subjects he teaches. Constitutional law has retained a classroom component.

West Point adopted the external-speech policy in February 2025, shortly after President Donald Trump ordered service academies to remove ideas his administration described as radical, divisive or un-American. Faculty pages later lost references to published scholarship, and instructors were told not to offer personal opinions in class, according to Bakken’s lawsuit.

The academy argued that approval allowed leaders to distinguish faculty views from official positions and prepare for questions about public appearances. Seibel found that disclaimers could serve those interests with less restraint. The government then agreed to a final judgment without further litigation in the trial court, preserving its ability to appeal the ruling against censorship efficiently.

Bakken published a book critical of military culture while the case was pending, work that could have exposed him to discipline under the policy. West Point can still teach obedience, chain of command and institutional discipline. Its civilian professors may now discuss why those concepts sometimes require an opposing paragraph.