BUZZ
‘First Amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves,’ judge writes
A federal appeals court struck down Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which restricts the topics professors can discuss in public university classrooms, in a Tuesday ruling.
Siding with a lower court decision that had blocked the law from taking effect, Judge Britt Grant of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the ban violates free speech for staff and students, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression reported.
FIRE filed the lawsuit in September 2022 on behalf of a professor and students, arguing the act is unlawful in part because it encourages the campus community to report individuals who are “advancing” critical race theory, white guilt, and other controversial topics, The College Fix previously reported.
The law prohibits concepts including “members of one race/color/sex/national origin are superior to another,” “some people are inherently racist moral character is dictated by race,” and “only certain races are worthy of respect,” among others.
In her opinion, Judge Grant wrote, “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,” she wrote.
She added that “the First Amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves.”
This ruling means the district court’s November 2022 injunction blocking the act will remain in place. The lower court had previously called the law “positively dystopian.”
FIRE attorney Greg Greubel applauded the decision as a win for free speech.
“Today’s important decision means that college remains a place where professors and students are allowed to debate controversial topics — even if politicians disagree with them,” Greubel said.
“Today’s ruling makes clear something we’ve known for a long time: Governments cannot censor their way to freedom,” he said.
Adriana Novoa, a Latin American history at the University of South Florida, called the decision a “relief.”
“As a professor, I shouldn’t have to choose between teaching to the best of my ability or facing punishment,” she said.
“This decision is such a relief to professors who care about their students and want them to become well-rounded and informed. It will allow me and countless other professors to teach our classes without government interference,” Novoa said.
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