Nocatee, Florida — A federal appeals court has ruled that Florida's Stop WOKE Act violates the First Amendment, striking down a law that restricted what faculty at public universities may discuss in the classroom. The decision came Tuesday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
The ruling affirms an earlier court decision that had blocked the law from taking effect. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sued in September 2022 on behalf of a professor, a student, and a student group, arguing that the higher-education provisions unconstitutionally chill free expression on campus.
> Though the government has plenty of ways to promote its own viewpoint, puppeteering every university professor in the state is not one of them.
Judge Britt C. Grant wrote the majority opinion, saying the First Amendment does not allow the government to impose an official line in a college classroom. Supporters of the law had cast it as a check on bias in public higher education; critics said it amounted to state-mandated censorship.
