UW-Madison’s censorship of speech on its social media accounts was found unconstitutional by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit when it overturned a Madison, Wisconsin district court’s dismissal of the case on summary judgment, finding the public university suppressed free speech.

LLG partners Mark M. Leitner and Joseph S. Goode and lawyers from the Animal Legal Defense Fund represented Madeline Krasno, a former employee of UW-Madison’s controversial primate research labs. Krasno used the university’s publicly accessible social media accounts to raise concerns she had with the primate labs and UW-Madison censored her speech. While the district court found Krasno had no standing to bring the claim and that there was no First Amendment violation if she did, the Seventh Circuit Court strongly rebuked that conclusion in an August 1, 2025 decision.

“LLG is proud to work with the Animal Legal Defense Fund again and stop the University of Wisconsin’s unlawful efforts to stifle public criticism of the horrendous conditions inflicted on helpless animals in its research facilities,” Mark M. Leitner said. “Bureaucrats beware: LLG stands ready to defend First Amendment rights and we will put a stop to your self-interested overreach.”

For more information, please see the ALDF’s press release posted here