Appeals Court Upholds Block on Florida Stop WOKE Act for University Professors

The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 7 upheld a 2022 federal district court ruling that struck down part of Florida's Stop WOKE Act as applied to university professors. Reason reported that the law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022, sought to restrict colleges, schools and workplaces from promoting certain viewpoints on racism, sexism and history.

Judge Britt C. Grant wrote the majority opinion. "Viewpoint-based restrictions designed to compel or ban a set of beliefs are dangerous in any setting, and they are especially pernicious in the classroom context," Grant stated.

The opinion added that forcing an official government line in a college classroom creates the "pall of orthodoxy" the First Amendment will not tolerate. The ruling upheld a temporary injunction issued by a federal district court in 2022 in a case brought in part by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

That court had found the law banned professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints while permitting the opposite viewpoints.

In 2024 a separate three-judge panel of the same circuit blocked the law's application to private businesses. The July 7 decision addressed only the portion concerning colleges and universities. FIRE senior attorney Greg H. Greubel said the ruling means college remains a place where professors and students can debate controversial topics even if politicians disagree with them.

He added that governments cannot censor their way to freedom. The Stop WOKE Act prohibits training or instruction that espouses or compels belief in specified concepts regarding race, relative privilege and collective guilt, with the state determining violations.