The 88 are not being sued them are being prosecuted for crimminal offenses.
But they would have a right to sue Notre Dame based on the fact of selective prosecution.
There were Pro-Gay activists and anti-military activists that nothing happened to them.
So the ND 88 would have the right to sue Notre Dame Univserity.
The articles (more than one) talk about the fact that ND 88 have won the right to have individual trials and that William Kirk must testify in these trials.
These are, in a sense, poison pills to the prosecution of the ND 88 on criminal charges.
One of the ND 88 suffered a heart attack. If it can be shown that there was selective prosecution of the law (bias), then some of these people can sue Notre Dame for damages.
I am not a lawyer, but I believe that is where this stands.
Additionally, the ND 88 were upholding Catholic beliefs in what they were doing with their protests, which Notre Dame is supposed to be a Catholic University.