DeSantis signed the legislation into law in 2022, but parts were blocked in November of that year.
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A 2022 Florida law that limits how professors can discuss race and gender in the classroom violates the First Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
In a 2-to-1 decision, the Court of the Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a lower court’s decision blocking the law. Free speech advocates had warned that the lawsuit against the law, known as the Stop WOKE Act, could demolish the tradition of academic freedom in American higher education if the judges sided with the state.
Florida’s lawyers argued, essentially, that professors’ speech in the classroom is government speech, so the state can restrict what they say. Other states have made similar arguments as they enacted bans on diversity, equity and inclusion. An Alabama district judge ruled last August that professors aren’t protected by the First Amendment because their “in-class instruction constitutes government speech.” Those plaintiffs appealed to the 11th Circuit, and their case is still pending.
