Federal appeals court strikes down Florida's Stop WOKE Act as unconstitutional

A federal appeals court has overturned key provisions of Florida's Stop WOKE Act, ruling that the state cannot impose ideological orthodoxy in college classrooms. The decision reaffirms that government censorship is not an acceptable remedy for establishment-approved ideology.

Court Ruling

On July 7, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a 2022 ruling that blocked parts of the law, which aimed to restrict discussions of racism, sexism, and history in colleges, schools, and workplaces.

"The First Amendment is incompatible with an official government line—in a college classroom of all places," the court stated.

Background of the Law

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the Stop WOKE Act in 2022 as a response to peak social justice activism. Speaking at the National Conservatism conference, DeSantis said:

"In Florida, parents should be able to send their kid to elementary school without having woke gender ideology shoved down their throat."

He described the prevailing ideology in academic institutions and corporate HR departments as "the woke mind virus."

Key Provisions

The law sought to prohibit:

• Subjecting individuals to training or instruction that "espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels" belief in specified concepts regarding race, relative privilege, collective guilt, and other social justice ideas
• Such activities as a condition of employment, membership, certification, licensing, credentialing, or passing an examination

The state retained authority to determine whether discussions violated the ban.

Legal Challenges

The law faced immediate First Amendment challenges and has not fared well in court.

2024 Ruling on Private Businesses

A three-judge panel for the 11th Circuit wrote:

"The State of Florida seeks to bar employers from holding mandatory meetings for their employees if those meetings endorse viewpoints the state finds offensive. But meetings on those same topics are allowed if speakers endorse viewpoints the state agrees with, or at least does not object to."

The panel added: "Florida may be exactly right about the nature of the ideas it targets. Or it may not. Either way, the merits of these views will be decided in the clanging marketplace of ideas rather than a codebook or a courtroom."

Earlier District Court Ruling

A federal district court issued a temporary injunction in a 2022 case brought in part by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The judge noted:

"The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints… This is positively dystopian."

The Appeals Court Decision

Writing for the majority, Judge Britt C. Grant stated:

"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. Though the government has plenty of ways to promote its own viewpoint, puppeteering every university professor in the state is not one of them. Forcing an official government line—in a college classroom of all places—is exactly the 'pall of orthodoxy' that the First Amendment will not tolerate."

Grant concluded:

"Universities and professors do not always get it right. Neither does the government. Our Constitution is unique in its commitment to letting the people, rather than the government, find the right equilibrium."

Key Takeaway

The courts have not taken a position on whether the woke ideas targeted by the Florida law are good or bad. They allow that state lawmakers may be correct about the toxic nature of the targeted ideology. However, the ruling affirms that government in the United States is not permitted to impose its own orthodoxy through censorship.

This commentary originally appeared in The Rattler from J.D. Tuccille and Reason.