Contra our post yesterday, Ken Levy didn’t actually return to teach a criminal law class at LSU Law School. Instead, he camped out in his office as the dean cancelled the class.

Professor Ken Levy returned to LSU but not his classroom Thursday after the First Circuit halted a judge’s ruling that would have reinstated his teaching status.

The Investigative Unit obtained the interim order that the stay was granted, which means that Levy will not be allowed back in class until the appeals court takes further action.

On Thursday afternoon he did what he is allowed to do as a tenured professor — visit his office in the LSU Law School.

Levy was removed from teaching classes in January after comments he made during class against Governor Landry surfaced. A lawsuit says that Levy told students, “F*** the Governor” in response to a video posted by Landry, which showed a clip of Levy’s Law School colleague Nicholas Bryner discussing the conduct of students who voted for Trump.

After his removal, attorneys for Levy sued the school, saying that he could not be removed from the classroom for political comments.

In a hearing Tuesday, 19th JDC Judge Tarvald Smith ruled that Levy must be allowed back in class. LSU filed an appeal Wednesday and the legal battle between Levy and LSU advanced to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, which decided Thursday to put a hold on Smith’s ruling.

About an hour before Levy’s class was scheduled to begin, a message went out to students saying it would be canceled to “give time for everyone to plan next steps.”

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry had a good time with that news…

Good ruling out of the First Circuit this morning where they issued a stay in the case with LSU professor Ken Levy.

Levy should stay far, far away from any classroom in Louisiana!https://t.co/xJFyxNeqX3

— Governor Jeff Landry (@LAGovJeffLandry) February 13, 2025

This is the second time the First Circuit has stayed an order of Tarvald Smith’s, which brings to the surface perhaps a bigger issue than Ken Levy’s job status (which is ultimately going to resolve itself later this spring). Namely, that it begins to appear that if you want to hide something from Smith you should put it in a law book because he won’t look for it there.

The 19th Judicial District Court is starting to look like an utter sinkhole from a legal standpoint and Smith is one of the problem-children judges.

It’s a good thing that the appellate court the 19th responds to is competent.

But as we’ve said, what’s maddening is how the local media has couched this controversy. They keep talking about this as Ken Levy getting censored because he said mean things about Jeff Landry and Donald Trump. That’s not why he’s in trouble.

In that same rant disguised as a lecture, he threatened to have students recording him “thrown in jail” – which is a threat made to intimidate, for one thing, and also an assertion made in conflict with state law. A student recording a professor is 100 percent not a crime and Levy either knows that or he’s not qualified to teach criminal law.

Levy also told students who disagree with his far-Left politics that “You need my political opinions.” That’s not him doing missionary work, it’s an implied threat that open disagreement with him will negatively affect their grade in his class. Whether real or imaginary, it’s still highly inappropriate.

As we said yesterday, Levy might ultimately win this case or he might not (it’s very likely the latter), but he needs to find a new job. LSU is getting rid of him one way or another, and they should. A state whose public is very decidedly to the right of Mao Zedong, which is around where Ken Levy’s politics place him, has a right and responsibility to have its flagship university reflect those values. He doesn’t fit within that paradigm now – if he ever did.