Dissenting Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito said the court ultimately will need to intervene on a controversial free speech issue at universities across the country.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to Indiana University’s use of a “bias response team,” prompting a dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas, who argued the case was an important opportunity to resolve a split among federal courts over whether such programs infringe on student free speech rights.

For nearly three years, it has seemed inevitable that the Supreme Court would strike down the “buffer zones” that restrict protests near the entrances of reproductive health clinics. A majority of the court has already castigated these laws—and past precedent upholding them—as a subversion of anti-abortion protesters’ First Amendment rights.