It's been almost four years since members of the American Studies Association voted by a nearly two-thirds majority to adopt a resolution backing a boycott of Israeli universities, but a lawsuit opposing the resolution filed by four of the association's current and former members rages on.
In March, a federal judge dismissed the claims of the four members that the ASA operated outside the scope of its bylaws in endorsing a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, but allowed the plaintiffs' claims of corporate waste, breach of contract and violation of the D.C. Nonprofit Corporation Act to proceed. In a mixed ruling, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that it was reasonably within the scope of the ASA's charter as an academic organization to support a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, but found that the plaintiffs had presented a "plausible case for breach of contract" in regard to their allegations that the ASA had failed to follow its own rules in conducting a vote on the resolution in December 2013.
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