Free speech just won big in Florida . But this First Amendment victory comes at the expense of Gov. Ron DeSantis 's (R-FL) political agenda.

Under DeSantis’s direction, the state government recently ordered the University of Florida and the University of South Florida to derecognize and defund their respective chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine, an extreme pro-Gaza and anti-Israel student organization. It did so in response to the national Students for Justice in Palestine organization releasing contemptible statements that seemingly endorse and express solidarity with Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack that brutally killed 1,200 Israelis. Hundreds more men, women, and children were kidnapped and remain trapped in Gaza.

Florida accused the group of providing "material support" for terrorism, which is illegal under federal and state law. However, the state provided no evidence of the requisite acts needed to show material support for terrorism — acts such as recruiting for Hamas, providing Hamas with financial resources, providing Hamas with expert guidance, or otherwise doing anything that would constitute "material support." Vocally supporting something doesn’t qualify.

Free speech advocates immediately decried Florida’s attempted crackdown. Now, Florida has seemingly admitted that it got this one wrong. State officials just announced that they are "pausing" their plan to force the derecognition of these Students for Justice in Palestine groups due to fear of "potential personal liability for university actors."

This is a huge admission of guilt. Why? Well, because normally a legal doctrine known as "qualified immunity" would protect university officials from being sued even if they violate students’ rights. The only exceptions to this liability shield are in instances where the law has already very clearly established an action as a violation of civil rights and officials proceed anyway. So, in pausing out of fear that they will not be protected by qualified immunity, Florida officials are essentially acknowledging that their plan is a violation of students’ First Amendment rights.

Oops!

No matter what your views on the Israel-Gaza conflict are, we should all hope this "pause" turns out to be permanent. For state officials to crack down on political groups at public colleges because they dislike the (admittedly radical and contemptible) views expressed by their national affiliates is not just unconstitutional but wrong and shortsighted. For one, Florida’s move punishes local chapters for the statements of a national organization that they most likely had no part in drafting or approving.

"The university is appearing to hold these groups responsible for the words of others … that the groups didn’t authorize or even know about," the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's Zachary Greenberg, who specializes in campus advocacy, told me. "That guilt-by-association approach is antithetical to the First Amendment, which requires the university to prove individualized misconduct before punishing these groups."

No matter how radical their views are, offensive viewpoints can never justify punishment for a student group at a public college. That's thanks to the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that public universities must treat student groups with viewpoint neutrality. Yes, even when those viewpoints are really upsetting. It’s not enough to argue that these groups are advocating in favor of violence. That’s actually completely allowed under the First Amendment, except in very narrow circumstances, which the statements at issue objectively do not fit into. And we shouldn’t want it any other way.

Even ardent Israel supporters should support this principle, even if they find Students for Justice in Palestine reprehensible, lest they compromise on free speech principles and live to regret it. After all, if a Republican-controlled state government can crack down on anti-Israel student groups in the name of them "supporting terrorism," a Democratic-controlled state government could just as easily crack down on pro-Israel student groups in the name of them "supporting genocide."

Hence why we should all want universities to abide by the Constitution’s demands. Florida’s attempted crackdown against Students for Justice in Palestine was always misguided. It’s heartening that state officials are realizing as much — even if it’s embarrassing for Ron DeSantis.

Brad Polumbo ( @Brad_Polumbo ) is an independent journalist, co-founder of BASEDPolitics , YouTuber , and Washington Examiner contributor.