During this year's legislative session, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that limits how people can protest on college campuses by creating blackout hours for "expressive activity."
"It was the Legislature's response to the pro-Palestinian protests that swept a bunch of campuses last year," said Texas Tribune politics editor Jasper Scherer.
The law went into effect at the beginning of September, but key parts of it were temporarily blocked this week by a federal judge in Austin.
"This came out of a lawsuit filed by student groups that were challenging specifically the University of Texas System," Scherer said.
The stalled law puts a restriction on overnight protests and using devices to amplify sound while protesting during class hours and limiting demonstrations that intimidate others or interfere with campus operations or peace officers doing their jobs.
"It should also be noted this is a temporary block," Scherer said. "We still need to get a ruling on the merits, and of course the case can be appealed to higher federal courts."
Hear more stories from the week in Texas politics in the audio player above.
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