TALLAHASSEE, Florida \u2014 Florida\u2019s anti-woke law restricting how lessons on race and gender can be taught in colleges and universities \u2014 policies championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis \u2014 violates the free speech rights of professors, a panel of appeals court judges ruled Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The decision from a divided 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is a devastating, possibly final blow to the so-called Stop WOKE Act touted by the DeSantis administration. The judges affirmed a 2022 decision<\/a> that labeled Florida\u2019s rules as \u201cpositively dystopian,\u201d doubling down by arguing the law is \u201ca breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse\u201d in the very classroom space where students are supposed to \u201cpuzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,\u201d Judge Britt C. Grant, an appointee of President Donald Trump, wrote in the opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n Grant was joined by Judge Charles R. Wilson, a Bill Clinton appointee, in the ruling. But another Trump-appointed judge, Barbara Lagoa \u2014 a former Florida Supreme Court judge picked by DeSantis \u2014 wrote a striking dissent of the decision, contending the First Amendment \u201cdoes not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis panel is not free to rewrite precedent simply because we dislike where it leads,\u201d Lagoa wrote.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s Republican-led Legislature approved the \u201canti-woke\u201d legislation, H.B. 7<\/a>, or the Individual Freedom Act, in 2022. The state, though, has been blocked from enforcing the policies as it has been fighting in court ever since.<\/p>\n Directly inspired by DeSantis, the law expanded Florida\u2019s anti-discrimination laws to prohibit schools and companies from leveling guilt or blame to students and employees based on race or sex. As such, it targets lessons over issues like \u201cwhite privilege\u201d by creating new protections for students and workers, including that a person should not be instructed to \u201cfeel guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress\u201d due to their race, color, sex or national origin.<\/p>\n The other portion of Florida\u2019s law restricting what DeSantis called \u201cwoke\u201d workplace trainings faced a similar fate after also being rejected by an 11th Circuit panel. And, notably, it was Grant who wrote that opinion, decrying the DeSantis-backed policies as \u201cthe greatest First Amendment sin\u201d<\/a> for penalizing certain viewpoints on the job.<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s higher education ruling was triggered by two lawsuits that have been fighting the Stop WOKE law for years. One of the lawsuits was filed by Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a college free speech group, on behalf of a University of South Florida professor, student, and student group, while the other was brought by the ACLU, ACLU of Florida and Legal Defense Fund on behalf of students and educators.<\/p>\n Both challenges alleged that the legislation pushed by DeSantis violates their freedom of speech, evidenced by how it could restrict lessons on critical topics, claiming it\u2019s a discriminatory classroom censorship law that severely restricts how race and gender can be taught and talked about in schools.<\/p>\n \u201cThis ruling sets a strong precedent that higher education cannot be limited to the whims of politicians,\u201d Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU\u2019s Racial Justice Program, said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n FIRE, meanwhile, also celebrated the decision and its implications for higher education:<\/p>\n \u201cToday\u2019s important decision means that college remains a place where professors and students are allowed to debate controversial topics \u2014 even if politicians disagree with them,\u201d said Greg H. Greubel, FIRE senior attorney.<\/p>\n The DeSantis administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ruling. State Attorney General James Uthmeier, though, did throw praise at Lagoa.<\/p>\n