Court Blocks DeSantis & Florida Repubs Stop WOKE Act
Judge Blocks DeSantis’ ‘Stop WOKE Act’ From Applying To Colleges
Another DEFEAT for Wanna-be Dictator DeSantis & Florida Fascist Republicans after the Court BLOCKS the Stop WOKE Act from being enforced in higher education.
The ACLU, the ACLU of Florida, the Legal Defense Fund, and Ballard Spahr filed a lawsuit against the unconstitutional Stop W.O.K.E. Act (HB 7) in August, which threatened Floridians’ First Amendment rights by censoring diverse viewpoints in our classrooms. This education censorship law is just the latest in the government’s attack on the First Amendment in classrooms. It also violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause as Black educators, students, and historical events are disproportionately targeted by this law.
“The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints. Defendants argue that, under this Act, professors enjoy ‘academic freedom’ so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves. This is positively dystopian. It should go without saying that ‘[i]f liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.'”
Florida is one of over a dozen states across the country that have passed laws aimed at censoring discussions around race and gender in the classroom. This is a huge victory for everyone who values academic freedom and recognizes the value of inclusive education.
DeSantis Free Speech Crackdown BLOCKED By Judge
Florida “Stop WOKE Act” Blocked in Court
A federal judge has blocked key portions of Florida’s new “Stop WOKE Act” that attempts to block discussions of racism and white privilege in workplaces and public schools. The preliminary injunction comes as the law is being challenged by business owners, students, educators and the American Civil Liberties Union. We speak with Diane Roberts, journalist and professor of English at Florida State University, who says faculty have either become so scared that many have left the university or are considering leaving. “A lot of people will self-censor, and I think that was the idea all along,” she says, noting this is especially true for untenured faculty. Roberts also discusses DeSantis’s potential run for president.
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