The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a ruling from a district court case last year that showed Iowa State University had violated First Amendment rights of a student organization by using a trademark policy to prevent the campus chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws from printing T-shirts depicting a marijuana leaf.

According to the appeals court ruling, the university used “viewpoint discrimination” by crafting trademark policy that would stop the student organization from printing T-shirts that depicted ISU’s mascot, Cy, with images of a marijuana leaf.

According to Eric Cooper, faculty advisor for ISU NORML, the student group was very excited to receive news of the Monday’s decision.

“I was very surprised and happy,” Cooper said.

The court proceedings began in 2014, when Paul Gerlich and Erin Furleigh, two members of ISU NORML, filed a lawsuit claiming the school violated their First Amendment rights to free speech by not allowing the club to use Cy’s image after the school had already approved a T-shirt design that featured the mascot.

The suit also named President Steven Leath, Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill, Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Warren Madden and Director of Trademark Licensing Leesha Zimmerman as defendants.

According to court documents, the discussion over the T-shirt, which featured Cy’s head in place of the “O” in NORML, as well as the words “Freedom is NORML at ISU” and contained a small image of a marijuana leaf above the organization’s name, began after the university rescinded approval of the design when it started to garner media attention.

Because ISU had rejected the student group’s T-shirts “due to the messages they expressed” in an effort to “maintain favor with Iowa political figures,” the district court found that ISU engaged in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.

Monday’s ruling upheld those claims. Because of that, the university will need to reconsider its actions and policies in the future, Cooper said.

“I think they have to be more careful,” Cooper said. “Careful not to target specific groups and specific messages, and I hope they’ll be more careful about that.”

However, ISU is not completely out of legal options moving forward. If the university administration chooses, they have the option of appealing the appeals court decision to a higher court. ISU spokesman John McCarroll said that is an option that was under consideration.

“We are reviewing the court’s decision and have not decided whether to appeal,” McCarroll said.

Even if the university does file an appeal, Cooper said he believes the law is still on NORML’s side.

“I don’t think the Supreme Court will hear it,” Cooper said. “The district court was very clear, they did not have any basis for their claims. They went on and on with numerous examples about how the decision was politically motivated and how they’re specifically targeting NORML ISU because of their viewpoint. It’s just the most blatant case imaginable of viewpoint discrimination.”

According to the ruling, there could be some damages awarded to the NORML members who originally filed the suit. Cooper said since those students have already graduated, he is not sure if the group will receive the payments, or if it will go directly to the two students. Either way, Cooper said he’s just happy to have a decision go in their favor, and they look forward to continuing on as a student group at ISU.

“We’re very happy that we can continue printing our T-shirts and looking forward to see what the university decides to do next,” Cooper said.