A federal judge in Florida denied a pair of lawsuits seeking an injunction on a memo by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) aiming to shut down pro-Palestinian student groups at state-run universities in Florida.

Judge Mark Warner of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida denied motions for injunctions against a memo calling on the Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida to be deactivated after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel.

Warner ruled that because the universities had not enforced the memo by not deactivating the chapters, they “failed to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of establishing standing.”

State university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, after consulting with DeSantis, ordered chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine in the university system to be deactivated after their support for the Hamas terrorist attack. Warner said only the Board of Trustees has the authority to manage student groups and that it opted not to do so due to potential personal liability.

Warner said in his order that he does “not fault Plaintiff’s members for feeling anxious about the fact that the Governor—arguably the most powerful man in Florida—has repeatedly disparaged Plaintiff’s members as ‘terrorists’ who support ‘jihad’ and repeated the falsehood that their organization has been ‘deactivated.’” However, he said, that does not amount to standing for an injunction.

The American Civil Liberties Union, who sued on behalf of the University of Florida’s student group, claimed a victory despite having the case dismissed and called on the chancellor of the university to revoke the memo.

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“Florida officials are now on notice that if they attempt to enforce the deactivation order, we will be back in court to uphold our client’s First Amendment rights,” ACLU senior staff attorney Brian Hauss said in a statement. “The Chancellor should formally acknowledge that the deactivation order will not be enforced by removing it from his official website.”

The decision came on the same day a different federal judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations by the governor against Disney for DeSantis’s work to restructure the district encompassing the Walt Disney World Resort. The judge in that case ruled Disney did not have standing to sue the governor.