Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized a federal appeals court ruling that blocks Florida from enforcing higher education provisions of the Stop WOKE Act.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week upheld a lower court ruling preventing the state from enforcing higher education portions of the Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop WOKE Act.
The law prohibited professors at public colleges and universities from endorsing DEI and Critical Race Theory concepts.
“The 11th Circuit claims it’s a 1st Amendment requirement that such nonsense be taught in public universities,” wrote DeSantis on X. “What a joke.”
DeSantis pointed to specific concepts restricted under the law, including the idea that a person should be discriminated against based on race, sex or national origin, or that a person should bear responsibility or guilt for past actions committed by members of the same race or group.
While DeSantis criticized the ruling, the plaintiffs who first brought the lawsuit celebrated their win.
“We are thrilled the court has stopped the erasure of topics that have real implications for our students, allowing them to learn, discuss, and develop tools for combatting the complex issue of racism in our country without being gagged by those who would dictate that only state-approved thought may be promoted,” said LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M University College of Law professor and the named plaintiff in this lawsuit.
The American Civil Liberties Union also spoke in favor of the ruling, calling the law “overreaching” and the restrictions it placed on educators “vague.”
“This ruling sets a strong precedent that higher education cannot be limited to the whims of politicians,” said Senior Staff Attorney with ACLU Leah Watson. “All students and educators deserve to have a free and open exchange about ideas without government control. Students can’t fight racial discrimination that they don’t see; training and instruction is key to empowering future leaders to pursue racial justice.”
The law had not banned all discussions on the topics, but the promotion of them was prohibited. Professors and teachers were still able to discuss the issues in a “neutral manner.”
The law, which was passed and went into effect in 2022, still stands for K-12 educators.
Since its passage the act has faced several legal challenges and criticism for the penalties it levied including potentially pulling performance funding from universities that failed to correct a violation.
For example, the University of South Florida could have lost $73 million in a given fiscal year, which was about 15% of its total state appropriations, according to the lawsuit.
Judge Britt Grant called the named penalties “steep.”
“That kind of loss would be financially devastating,” Grant wrote in the court ruling.