Federal Court Halts Florida Law Banning ‘Woke’ Instruction in Universities
The ruling keeps Florida from enforcing higher-education limits and leaves the injunction in place while the state considers further appeals.
- On Tuesday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Florida's Stop WOKE Act provisions restricting race and gender instruction at public colleges, ruling the law unconstitutionally suppresses political viewpoints in academic settings.
- Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the 2022 legislation, formally the Individual Freedom Act, to combat what he termed 'woke' ideologies and restrict how educators discuss discrimination, sexism, and bias in classrooms.
- Writing for the 2-1 majority, Judge Britt Grant called the state's position a "breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas," stating the First Amendment protects teaching and scholarship from government censorship.
- Judge Barbara Lagoa dissented, arguing Florida acted within its authority to control speech in state-sponsored classrooms; the state can seek rehearing or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M University College of Law professor and lead plaintiff, said the ruling allows students to discuss racism without state restriction, while ACLU attorney Leah Watson called it a "strong precedent" protecting higher education from political control.
60 Articles
60 Articles
11 CA panel strikes down Stop WOKE Act
In a context in which the First Amendment was being applied consistently and reasonably, this would be the easiest of easy cases, but I’ll take even one Trump judge on board at this point: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2-1 decision Tuesday upholding a lower court decision against Florida’s so-called Stop WOKE Act is a necessary rebuke of state lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has sought to make Florida a prototype for a conservative hi…
Federal Appeals Court Throws Out Florida's 'Stop W.O.K.E. Act'
Florida AG Uthmeier responds: "According to the CA11 panel majority, public university professors have a First Amendment right to teach white supremacy and critical race theory, and the legislature cannot pass laws that say otherwise." The post Federal Appeals Court Throws Out Florida’s ‘Stop W.O.K.E. Act’ first appeared on Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion.
‘Emphatically No’: Court Trashes Florida’s Rule Tolling University Professors What To Say - Tampa Free Press
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit blocked the higher education portion of Florida’s 2022 Individual Freedom Act, widely known as the “Stop WOKE Act,” ruling in a 2-1 decision that the law violates the First Amendment. The decision affirms a lower court’s preliminary injunction against the law, which barred public college and […] ‘Emphatically No’: Court Trashes Florida’s Rule Tolling University Professors What To Say
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