US appeals court strikes down key part of Florida law restricting campus race and gender discussions

A federal appeals panel struck down a significant chunk of Ron DeSantis’s so-called Stop Woke Act on Tuesday, delivering another rebuff to the Republican Florida governor’s efforts to stifle free speech in higher education. 

 In a scathing order, judges of the 11th circuit court of appeal said by a 2-1 majority that the higher education component of the law – which prevented college and university professors teaching or sharing thoughts on concepts of race and gender – breached the free expression rights guaranteed under the US constitution’s first amendment. I

t accused the state of “puppeteering”: making the educators their mouthpieces by controlling what they can say or teach...

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/07/stop-woke-act-appeal-florida-desantis 

 

Judge blocks Florida from enforcing ‘Stop Woke Act’ on private employers - The Washington Post

…In an unusually pointed opinion, Walker trashed many of Florida's defenses of the "Stop Woke Act." In addition to ruling that the law was a clear violation of the First Amendment, Walker also said it violated the plaintiff's Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. 

 "It was a very strong decision and laid out very clearly this is a very blatant violation of the Constitution," said the lead counsel for the defendants, Shalini Agarwal, who also works with the nonpartisan civic group Protect Democracy…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/18/florida-stop-woke-act/