NCLA Brings Justice to former Poet Laureate in Case Challenging Termination as Free Speech Violation

Nephtalí De León v. City of San Antonio and Executive Director Krystal Jones, Department of Arts and Culture

Washington, D.C., April 06, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance has reached a settlement in its lawsuit on behalf of accomplished Chicano writer, artist, and activist Nephtalí De León against the City of San Antonio and its Executive Director of Arts and Culture Krystal Jones. The lawsuit alleged that the City fired Mr. De León from the paid position of City Poet Laureate and defamed him for using the Chicano Caló word “mayates,” referring to Black people, in an elegy posted on Facebook. The elegy honored Mr. De León’s friend, Chicano writer Dr. Roberto ‘Cintli’ Rodriguez, who devoted his life to fighting racial injustice. As translated to English by Mr. De León, the poem states that Rodriguez “touched so many Chicanos, Whites and Blacks, he touched everyone between two cultures and two nations.” Mr. De León did not use the term as a slur.

Mr. De León and the City of San Antonio have now resolved the lawsuit and all claims asserted against each other, including the City’s argument that he breached his Poet Laureate contract by posting the elegy. Under the settlement, the City has paid Mr. De León more than the compensation originally agreed for his laureate services, and the parties jointly state that they never intended to characterize any other party as racist or cause others to draw that conclusion. NCLA is pleased to vindicate Mr. De León’s First Amendment rights and his good name.

NCLA’s lawsuit argued that by firing Mr. De León, the City engaged in viewpoint discrimination and First Amendment retaliation. This settlement allows him to close this chapter and continue his lifelong creative journey.

NCLA released the following statements:

“There is a sad irony in the City’s initial condemnation of an elegy written by an 80-year-old Chicano poet in his own language to honor the life of a friend who had dedicated his life to combatting, of all things, racial injustice. This settlement brings a welcome measure of justice for Nephtalí De León and for the decades he has spent advancing—and vibrantly celebrating—Chicano language and culture.”
— Casey Norman, Litigation Counsel, NCLA

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet … a settlement that a poet is not a racist for using common terms in his language in eulogizing his friend is just as sweet as a court victory.”
— John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA

For more information visit the case page here.

ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.

Joe Martyak
New Civil Liberties Alliance
703-403-1111
joe.martyak@ncla.legal

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