Court Revives Lawsuit From Prof Who Called for War on Israel

A federal appeals court has reactivated a professor’s free speech case against the University of Kentucky, court records show. 

On Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a district court’s January ruling that paused UK law professor Ramsi Woodcock’s litigation against the university. In July 2025, UK removed Woodcock from teaching after discovering that he called for a global war to end Israel’s existence as a country on his website, antizionist.net. In November, Woodcock sued the university, asking the court to restore his normal teaching duties and bar the university from relying on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in disciplinary proceedings, among other requests. 

In January of this year, Judge Danny C. Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky paused the case during the university’s investigation. But on Monday, the appeals court overturned that decision, concluding that UK’s investigation of Woodcock didn’t meet the legal burden of abstention and remanded his case back to the lower court for consideration. 

“The disciplinary proceedings against Woodcock remain in a preliminary, investigatory stage. There is no ongoing formal proceeding against Woodcock, nor has the University filed a formal complaint against him,” the appellate court’s ruling said. “Indeed, the University has not even made a threshold determination that Woodcock violated one of its policies.”