professor meriwether walk us through the incident that led to this lawsuit? a student and i use the phrase, yes, sir. his hand was up and so he approached me after class and asked me then to refer to him as female using female pronouns, female titles and i explained to him i would not be able to do that. the student complaint to the administration and the administration initially was willing to agree to an accommodation where i would use the students proper name feminine but decided to change course and discipline me and we are here three years later with a lawsuit resolved. i had to file a lawsuit to protect my physician and free expression in the classroom. >> todd: and freedom of religion because your position not wanting to use what the student preferred was based upon your religious beliefs. did you fear you would be fired if you said something as innocuous as yes or once again? >> i fully anticipated i would be fired absolutely. but one thing i want to emphasize, this is really not about the student. the student stayed in the class and did extremely wel

afterwards meriwether was told the preferred pronouns were she and her, and meriwether said it would and sued the school saying it violated his first amendment rights. nick meriwether is with us along with his attorney. nick, take us back to that class in 2018. what do you remember? >> well, basically have it, you are exactly right. the student approached me after class and said that he wanted to be referred to as a female, and i tried to find an accommodation with the student, i was willing to use his proper name, female proper name, and initially the administration was willing to go along with that. but then the administration changed course and demanded that i defer to the ideology, that i refer to the student as a female and i could not do that. i thought it was an agregious assault on my freedom of speech and my religious beliefs. >> bill: tell me why. >> well, i believe that god created men and women, male and female, but also the idea that my speech could be coerced, could be compelled by the administration that this was -- the college classroom is to be a place of debate and

the school responded to meriwether by far filing a formal warning.iwether than sued saying he could not discuss gender issues in class for fear of being suspended or fired and it would make hard for him to get anothe job elsewhere. sadly colleges aren't the only ones that hire philosophers, that and uber. anyway, the sixth u.s. circuit court of appeals ruled that the discriminated his freedom of speech so i guess the constitution isn't just sexist and racist, it's also trans phobic. what more can you expect from a bunch of white males? besides excellent. that is right, racist would say that and it's disgusting. speaking of disgusting, cat. are you surprised the court ruled the constitution took precedence over the gender identity policy? is that a good deal for you? it's right up your alley, libertarian libertarian lady. >> i was actually kind of surprised by it's because they gender identity policies, you don't want to run afoul of thos these days. but a lot of the arguments against it that you really should refer to the student by the pronouns they

but look we can't gloss over how significant and damning this is for kevin meriwether.oing to to ask the then president to resign but he said i've had it with this guy. he is to blame at least in part for the deadly attack on the capitol. as we know it didn't take long for him to go back to try to suck up to trump and get back in his good graces. he is fully embraced donald trump since then and will support him if trump runs for president in 2024. >> we are getting in some sad news to cnn. former utah senator oren hatch has died at the age of 88. he was the longest serving republican senator, retired in 2019, of course mitt romney took his seat. really, you know, someone very well-known in republican circles. i mean, if you lived in washington, covered the hill be knew oren hatch. >> absolutely. he is responsible for passing a lot of legislation into law. he was the head of multiple committees throughout his tenure including the finance committee at a time when republicans did pass the 2017 gop tax law, which was a significant achievement for the republican party. he al