White nationalist Richard Spencer claims First Amendment right was violated by Texas A&M

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - AUGUST 12: White nationalist Richard Spencer (C) and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Lee Park after the "United the Right" rally was declared an unlawful gathering August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hundreds of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" clashed with anti-facist protesters and police as they attempted to hold a rally in Lee Park, where a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee is slated to be removed. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) less CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - AUGUST 12: White nationalist Richard Spencer (C) and his supporters clash with Virginia State Police in Lee Park after the "United the Right" rally was declared an unlawful gathering ... more Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Image 1 of / 108 Caption Close White nationalist Richard Spencer claims First Amendment right was violated by Texas A&M 1 / 108 Back to Gallery

White supremacist Richard Spencer is a man without a college to speak at after one cancelled his visit and a prominent professor at another declined his invitation after the weekend violence in Charlottesville, Va.

Texas A&M University cancelled a white supremacist rally planned for Sept. 11 by an outside organizer Monday evening. The university said it maintained the right to ax the event because organizer Preston Wiginton linked his plans to the 2017 Unite the Right rally this past weekend.

Spencer called the university's excuse a "heckler's veto."

NOT WELCOME: Texas A&M cancels white supremacist rally set for Sept. 11

"What this is based on is this notion is the antifa, or the counter-protest, might be violent," Spencer told Chron.com after learning of the university's decision from Twitter during dinner Monday night. "They are worried there will be violence associated with this. You cannot suppress free speech on that basis. This could get interesting. ... Their argument is very weak."

Story continues below ...

Spencer, 39, referenced a federal lawsuit brought against Auburn University this spring by one of his supporters after the university canceled his event. The supporter, Cameron Padgett, sued Auburn in federal court to have Spencer speak at the public university in April and won.

U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins in Montgomery, Ala., prohibited Auburn from blocking Spencer, adding there was no evidence that he advocated violence, the Washington Post reported.

STANDING TOGETHER: Houston vigil held to support Charlottesville victims

"Discrimination on the basis of message content cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment," Watkins wrote in his ruling.

A similar First Amendment issue arose in December when Texas A&M President Michael Young told the Houston Chronicle that Spencer was welcome on campus.

Young said Spencer could "express odious, reprehensible ideas" so long as violence was not incited and university rules were followed.

"Texas A&M's support of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech cannot be questioned," Smith said in a statement Monday. "On December 6, 2016, the university and law enforcement allowed the same speaker the opportunity to share his views, taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure a peaceful event. However, in this case, circumstances and information relating to the event have changed and the risks of threat to life and safety compel us to cancel the event."

Spencer, who is the co-editor of altright.com and president of the National Policy Institute, challenged Young's assertion regarding the university's stance on the First Amendment.

RUMBLES IN HOUSTON: Armed protesters square off outside Houston City Hall

"We won a federal judgment and it might be fun to win another," Spencer told Chron.com. "Particularly against Greg Abbott. These conservatives really annoy me, much more than liberals, in a way."

Spencer's feelings were echoed by Kyle Bristow, a Detroit-based attorney with the Market Place of Ideas, a nonprofit organization that has represented alt-rights groups.

Bristow told Chron.com Monday night that Texas A&M administrators have "engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment."

"Being that our work has resulted in First Amendment legal victories in Alabama and Virginia, Texas A&M University is playing with fire and we will see to it that it gets burned if its administrators fail to honor the Constitution," Bristow said.

READ MORE: Dallas prep school disavows white nationalist alumnus Richard Spencer

Spencer's First Amendment right was further defended in April by Geoffrey R. Stone, a professor of law at the University of Chicago, in a New York Times op-ed.

Yet despite that support at the time, Stone penned another op-ed on the Huffington Post on Saturday declining to invite Spencer to campus while supporting "our students or faculty want to hear what he has to say, I will vehemently defend their right to do so."

The op-ed also included emails both men had exchanged. Spencer didn't know of Stone's Huffington Post article during his Chron.com interview Monday night.

"I'm a little miffed he published these emails," Spencer said.

Spencer believes it is going to become increasingly difficult for him to speak at universities following the violence in Charlottesville. These new challenges will not stop him, Spencer said.

"We crossed the Rubicon with Charlottesville," Spencer said. "I'm very flexible. There's many ways of skinning cats and you have to figure out the right model."