National Lawyers Guild stands by claim protesting at Berkeley dean’s house is free speech

The National Lawyers Guild is defending a pro-Palestinian student’s assertions she exercised her First Amendment rights when she interrupted a private dinner party at the home of University of California at Berkeley School of Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky last week.

The student, Malak Afaneh, stood up and began giving a pro-Palestinian speech into a microphone during the dinner for third-year law students at Chemerinsky’s home on April 9. Afaneh continued to speak even after Chemerinsky and his wife told her to leave, according to a video of the incident that went viral online.

In the video, Afaneh said she believed she was within her right to speak based on advice she received from the National Lawyers Guild, which describes itself as the nation’s oldest and largest progressive bar association.