Florida officials are making clear that state-mandated programs for domestic violence offenders cannot promote religious ideologies — and a federal appeals court has backed them up in a rare ruling that leans heavily on the doctrine of government speech.
The case centered on a minister who argued that his First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression were violated when the Florida Department of Children and Families denied him certification to teach batterers’ intervention programs. Both a federal district court and now the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal rejected his claims.
What makes the ruling unusual is its reliance on the government speech doctrine, which affirms that the state has the right to advance its own views without having to provide a platform for opposing ones.
Florida officials — particularly under Gov. Ron DeSantis — have frequently invoked this doctrine in recent years, from removing LGBTQ+ themed books from school libraries to restricting professors from openly criticizing state leadership.
In this case, DCF refused Joseph Nussbaumer Jr., who is also a licensed clinical Christian psychologist, to be a provider for the program since his curriculum involves the “Biblical view of domestic violence.” Under the department’s own regulations since 2022, faith-based ideologies couldn’t be used in these court-ordered curriculums according to the court opinion.
After Nussbaumer sued in 2022, a U.S. district judge sided with the state under the government speech doctrine. He appealed, and a three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also agreed with the state.
“This case asks whether a service provider, who seeks the privilege to work with court-ordered participants, can use the First Amendment as a sword to morph the government’s message into his own,” wrote Judge Gerald Tjoflat. “He cannot.”
Nuffbaumer founded Groveland Family & Crisis Counseling in 1990. In the lawsuit, he contested that he’s been providing services to hundreds of court-mandated participants since the beginning of Florida’s program in 1995, according to the court opinion.
Tjoflat said that Florida has a “wheelhouse of correctional devices it could employ,” but instead chooses to require those convicted of domestic violence to attend courses with “specific content that it believes should be communicated to counter domestic violence.”
“And it has sent that message for decades. Accordingly, we hold that Florida’s court-ordered BIPs have traditionally communicated the government’s message,” Tjoflat wrote.
Tjoflat was appointed to be a federal appeals judge by former President Gerald Ford in 1975. Judges Kevin Newsom, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Embry Kidd, appointed by President Joe Biden, joined Tjoflat for the unanimous court opinion.
A request for comment is pending from Nussbaumer’s attorneys and a DCF spokesperson.
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: Court affirms religion won’t be in court-mandated domestic violence programs in Florida
Reporting by Stephany Matat, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
