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MIAMI \u2014 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit struck down the higher education provisions of Florida\u2019s Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act, known as the Stop WOKE Act, in a 2-1 decision issued July 7, 2026, ruling the law unconstitutionally restricts speech in college classrooms.<\/p>\n
The Stop WOKE Act was enacted in 2022 and was designed to censor and regulate how schools, from kindergarten through college, and businesses taught and discussed race, gender, sexuality, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was a leading advocate for its passage.<\/p>\n
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Legal Defense Fund and the law firm Ballard Spahr filed a lawsuit against the act, Pernell v. Lamb, \u201con behalf of a group of Florida professors at public universities whose teaching has been impacted by this law,\u201d the ACLU\u2019s July 7, 2026, press release stated.<\/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 the ACLU of Florida press release. \u201cAll students and educators deserve to have a free and open exchange about ideas without government control. Students can\u2019t fight racial discrimination that they don\u2019t see; training and instruction is key to empowering future leaders to pursue racial justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pernell v. Lamb found the Stop WOKE Act to be unconstitutional and instead decreed that, regardless of the government\u2019s or educators\u2019 political views, it is the responsibility of students to form their own opinions.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlorida\u2019s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State\u2019s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry\u2014classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth,\u201d the ruling stated. \u201cEither way, in this context the First Amendment trusts students to \ufb01gure it out for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocates said the ruling will improve educational settings for students and give them the freedom to learn in an uncensored environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are thrilled the court has stopped the erasure of topics that have real implications for our students, allowing them to learn, discuss, and develop tools for combatting the complex issue of racism in our country without being gagged by those who would dictate that only state-approved thought may be promoted,\u201d said LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M University College of Law professor and the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, in the ACLU\u2019s press release.<\/p>\n
The Stop WOKE Act, as well as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d law, significantly affected not only what teachers were allowed to discuss in classrooms but also their employment. Nor\u00edn Dollard, senior policy analyst and KIDS COUNT director at the Florida Policy Institute, said that at the start of the 2022 school year, roughly \u201c450,000 kids started school last year without a permanent teacher,\u201d The 19th, a nonprofit news organization, reported in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese right-wing extremist groups were talking about teachers indoctrinating kids with liberal [agendas] and saying that teachers are groomers and pedophiles if they ever support LGBTQ-anything in the presence of a minor,\u201d Anita Carson, a former Polk County Public Schools teacher, said, according to The 19th. \u201cI couldn\u2019t take it anymore. I was like, \u2018I have to get out of this. This is toxic. This is not the space that I want to be in anymore.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Violating the Stop WOKE Act carried \u201charsh\u201d consequences for educators, including termination and disqualification from state funding, the ACLU\u2019s press release reported. Overturning it has guaranteed First Amendment rights in classrooms, according to advocates.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy upholding the district court\u2019s ruling, the Eleventh Circuit ensured that our system of higher education is guided by the principle of free speech, not government censorship,\u201d said Carrie McNamara, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida, in the ACLU\u2019s press release. \u201cOur classrooms are meant to be rooms of curiosity, creativity, and learning. When we stifle this kind of critical thinking, we risk losing our education system as we know it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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