A federal appeals court struck down parts of Florida’s “Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act,” deeming the law’s effort to censor public higher-education instruction a violation of the First Amendment.
The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a district court’s preliminary injunction against the bill, calling the 2022 law a “breathtaking assertion of power.”
“Florida seeks to strip public university professors—and by extension their students—of the ability to fully engage with ideas that are, for better or for worse, very popular in some academic circles,” Judge Britt Grant wrote in the majority opinion.
“The State asks us to consider its rules a means of targeting discrimination. But hearing an idea you disagree with is not discrimination; it is an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or maybe even change your mind,” the Trump-appointed judge affirmed.
DeSantis' "Anti-Critical Race Theory" Campaign
In 2021, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he and his administration would introduce the “Stop WOKE Act” as part of an “anti-Critical Race theory” campaign.
The bill, signed in Apr. 2022, sought to restrict instruction that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels” students to believe several concepts related to race, sex, national origin, and privilege.
According to Gov. DeSantis, the legislation served to “end woke indoctrination” across Florida schools and workplaces.
A couple of months after the bill’s passage, Tallahassee U.S. District Judge Mark Walker struck down the statute, asserting that it violated free speech protections.
Florida May Request SCOTUS To Review
“If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,” Judge Grant wrote, echoing Judge Walker’s previous opinion.
Although the panel’s recent ruling affirms Judge Walker’s injunction, the state of Florida can still request the court to rehear the case or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to review it.
