The article is much suggested read by Ciara Torres-Spelliscy from Brennan Center For Justice

Americans’ right to boycott a store or business for political reasons is protected by the First Amendment. But this precedent does not appear to have been followed by a local Ohio court that held Oberlin College liable for encouraging a boycott of a local bakery. The facts in the case are messy because there is a mix of clearly protected free speech as well as what the jury considered libelous statements against the business and two of its owners.

The trouble started in November 2016 the day after President Trump was elected. A Black Oberlin student named Jonathan Aladin was accused of trying to steal two bottles of wine from the Gibson Bakery near Oberlin’s campus in Ohio. The store clerk, who is also the owner’s son, then chased the student and got him in a chokehold. Aladin and two of his friends, who are also Black, joined in the altercation and were arrested.

The next day there were protests by Oberlin students against Gibson Bakery and accusations that the business was “racist.” Then there were multiple protests of Gibson at the college, including calls to boycott the business. Students at Oberlin asked the school to cancel business with the bakery, which it did.

See full story here.