Judge: Premature to block midshipman’s expulsion over tweets

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
December 23, 2020

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — A federal judge in Baltimore has ruled that it is premature for her to decide whether to block the U.S. Naval Academy from expelling a midshipman for posting social media messages deemed to be crude, noting a senior Navy official has not made a final disciplinary decision.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander agreed Tuesday to dismiss Chase Standage’s lawsuit and denied the 21-year-old midshipman’s request for a preliminary injunction allowing him to graduate from the academy. She dismissed the case “without prejudice,” which means Standage can try to revive his claims after a later stage in his disciplinary proceedings.

The academy’s superintendent recommended disenrolling the white midshipman over a string of tweets, including one in which he said Breonna Taylor received “justice” on the day police in Louisville, Kentucky, killed the Black woman during a drug raid.

Standage sued to block his separation from the academy, claiming it violated his First Amendment right to freely express his views. But the judge concluded Standage’s claims are not “ripe” because his case has not been decided yet by a more senior official: Catherine Kessmeier, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.

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