A Florida State University (FSU) student who was removed as president of the student senate for discussing his Catholic beliefs on social media has been reinstated.
 
On Monday, Jack Denton was reinstalled to his position as president of the Student Government Association Senate by the FSU Supreme Court. Denton, a political science major, was voted out of office in June due to comments he made in support of Church teaching on sexuality, transgenderism, policing and abortion in a private Catholic chat room. He reportedly expressed concern that the positions of groups like Black Lives Matter and the American Civil Liberties Union contradict Church teaching. His comments were later shared amongst students, many of whom denounced his views as transphobic and racist, and the Student Senate soon made efforts to remove him.
 
Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), Denton filed a lawsuit in September challenging his removal from FSU’s Student Senate in both federal court and the university court. A U.S. district judge ruled that the university was under no obligation to reinstate him to his role, however, the student Supreme Court—whose decisions are binding on the student senate—decided to reinstate him anyway, saying that Denton's ouster violated the senate's own First Amendment policies and sent the message that “some views are okay to share, and some are not.”
 
Tyson Langhofer, Senior Counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom,  stated, “We commend the FSU Supreme Court for acting swiftly and decisively to reinstate Jack to his position as FSU’s Student Senate president while his federal lawsuit continues and for acknowledging the violations of his constitutionally protected right to free speech.”