Florida’s law limiting race-based trainings or instruction still can’t be enforced, after a sharply divided three-judge appeals court panel ruled that the law violates the First Amendment rights of students and professors.
The 2-1 majority of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contended that the law suppresses political viewpoints contrary to Florida officials in academic settings, and that the law would “create a new rule that would quietly remove all free speech protections from the classroom,” wrote Judge Britt Grant, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018.
“Because the government pays the professors’ salaries, Florida says, their speech is the State’s speech,” Grant wrote. “Emphatically no.”
This decision comes after multiple years of legal battles, since the law (HB 7) was signed in 2022 by Gov. Ron DeSantis to combat “woke” ideologies in schools, colleges and universities. At this time, DeSantis’ national profile was rapidly rising prior to him announcing a White House presidential bid, and he positioned himself on battling cultural issues and a chief critic to critical race theory.
DeSantis has kept the fight going over the years. In recent months, Florida officials moved to disallow introductory sociology classes from counting toward general education requirements, citing a Florida law endorsed by the governor in his push to prohibit critical race theory in classroom curriculums and cut diversity, equity and inclusion programs at universities.
This legal development is a loss for Florida officials and the governor’s culture war battle, an emblem of his administration which is soon to end since DeSantis is term-limited this November. The next step would be for the case to return to federal district court, to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court or for Florida’s attorneys to request judges reevaluate the decision.
A day prior to this appeals court ruling, the same court also rejected Florida’s argument challenging the process for college accreditation, in a lawsuit filed by the DeSantis administration in 2023 against the Biden administration. At the time, he said the accreditation “cartel” imposed “ideological agendas” on state universities and threatened their status without oversight.
What a dissenting judge and an attorney who took on Florida law say about the ruling
In this case, a student organization, two students and professors from multiple Florida universities argued that the law impeded on their First Amendment rights to political speech in universities. Grant and Judge Charles Wilson, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, agreed with the group, and Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump-appointed judge, sharply disagreed.
Lagoa argued that Florida acted “well within its authority to curb professional endorsements” in its classrooms. She said the “classroom reality” was that students would limit their expression if a professor endorsed a particular viewpoint, since the professor has authority over the student.
“To be clear, the First Amendment protects all viewpoints in the public square, whether they are conventional or controversial,” Lagoa wrote. “But it does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.”
The governor’s office, the Florida Department of Education and attorneys representing the state did not return a request for comment. But Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X that this opinions shows the two judges in the majority believe “public university professors have a First Amendment right to teach white supremacy and critical race theory.”
“Totally incoherent and inconsistent with the intent of the First Amendment,” Uthmeier said on his X post.
Greg Greubel, an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression that represented the students and the student group, said this opinion made it clear that Florida is going to have to “think twice about placing any kind of viewpoint discriminatory restrictions on teaching in higher education.”
The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, the ACLU of Florida and law firm Ballard Spahr also joined the legal challenge.
In a statement, the ACLU Racial Justice Program senior staff attorney Leah Watson said the ruling “sets a strong precedent that higher education cannot be limited to the whims of politicians.”
“This opinion made it clear that that’s unconstitutional, and that these professors and these students need to have breathing room to debate controversial ideas in the college classroom, because if you can’t do it there, I don’t know where else you can do it,” Greubel said.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA TODAY Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Appeals court rules Florida Stop WOKE Act violates First Amendment
Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
