ASU Student Beats a Trespassing Rap for Handing Out Copies of the Constitution

One fine day in March of last year, college student Tim Tizon ventured out on the ASU Tempe campus to pass out copies of the Constitution. Tizon is a member of the local chapter of Young Americans for Liberty. He was arrested on trespassing charges. The University Lakes Justice Court convicted Tizon of that charge and sentenced him to pay a fine and perform community service. Ostensibly, the “crime” was not handing out copies of the Constitution. Rather, Tizon’s offense was that he was in the wrong area of the campus when he was doing so.

The Liberty Justice Center agreed to represent Tizon pro bono and according to a press release, filed an appeal back in January. On Monday, the State of Arizona agreed to drop all charges against Tizon, and the conviction and sentence were vacated. For his part, Tizon called it refreshing to see that the Arizona justice system finally recognized that free speech is the cornerstone of American values after a year of persecution. JP Kirby, director of student rights for Young Americans for Liberty, commented:

Arizona State has used its speech and assembly restrictions to harass activists such as Tim for years. ASU officials showed how much more the school values its own bureaucratic processes than the freedom of its students. I’m glad to see the state acknowledge that Tim’s rights outweigh the school’s desire to prosecute a student trying to share the Constitution with his classmates.

Liberty Justice Center president Jacob Huebert remarked:

What could be more obviously constitutional than handing out copies of the Constitution? We’re pleased the State has finally recognized the force of our arguments, but now we expect ASU to update its policies to fully protect the rights of all students to speak on campus.

Huebert probably shouldn’t hold his breath. It is far more likely that ASU and other like-minded institutions are trying to devise a workaround to keep things like free-speech zones intact. And I’ll bet real money that had Tizon been handing out flyers for an LGBTQ event or supporting abortion or the BDS movement, he would have been left to go about his business. In fact, someone would have probably brought him a bottle of water and a Hot Pocket. Well, probably a vegan Hot Pocket, if such a thing even exists.

Obviously, things such as speech zones aim to regulate who can say what and where. The irony, of course, is that the Constitution is not propaganda. It’s not an opinion. It is the law of the land. Everyone, regardless of their politics, should be familiar with it since it protects everyone, even those who hate it and who hate America. The purple-haired, metal-faced pronoun-fluid crowd apparently does not care or realize, and its enablers do not care or even realize what it means when that document is tossed aside. Like “Orange Man,” they believe that the Constitution is bad. Even if it covers them.