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Ward Churchill is interviewed in HBO's "Shouting Fire: Stories from the Edge of Free Speech." (Denver Post file photo )

A University of Colorado professor trying to get his job back says he sued the school over academic freedom and should be reinstated.

Ward Churchill is in a Denver court arguing for his job. He was fired after writing an essay in which he likened Sept. 11 victims to a Nazi.

A jury has already sided with Churchill and said the university wrongly fired him after the incendiary essay. But that lawsuit did not settle whether Churchill gets his job back. The University of Colorado is contesting his return, and a judge will decide whether Churchill may resume teaching at the university. Churchill told the judge that he did not sue CU for money, but to stand up for academic freedom.