Student protesters link arms during a demonstration on the South Mall lawn at the UT-Austin campus on April 24, 2024.

Credit: Texas Tribune / Julius Shieh A lawyer defending Texas' new college protest law acknowledged Tuesday that a campus policy banning all expressive activity overnight would be difficult to defend under the First Amendment.

But students challenging the law's constitutionality are arguing the wrong thing and suing the wrong officials, he told federal appeals judges.