A federal appeals court judge blocked the reinstatement of a law backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) that would restrict the incorporation of critical race theory in public schools, leaving in place a lower court's injunction against the measure.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit declined to lift a lower court order that prevented Florida's public schools and universities from enforcing the so-called Stop WOKE Act, which aims to restrict how public education instructors can discuss certain concepts relating to race, according to a brief order that did not address the merits of the case.
JUDGE TOSSES OUT PART OF DESANTIS'S STOP WOKE ACT, CITES 1984 NOVEL
"Appellants' motions to stay injunction pending appeal are denied. The Clerk is directed to treat any motion for reconsideration of this order as a non-emergency matter," the decision read.
"Professors must be able to discuss subjects like race and gender without hesitation or fear of state reprisal. Any law that limits the free exchange of ideas in university classrooms should lose in both the court of law and the court of public opinion," a spokesperson from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told the Washington Examiner. FIRE was one of two groups that sued and prevailed in blocking the measure last November.
A press secretary for DeSantis told the Washington Examiner the governor's office remains steadfast in its belief that the law will withstand legal scrutiny, saying, "The Court did not rule on the merits of our appeal."
"The appeal is ongoing, and we remain confident that the law is constitutional," he added.
Last year, a professor at the University of South Florida and a student representing a campus free speech group sued state education officials over the law, citing free speech and academic concerns, and received injunctive relief from Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker.
Walker called the law "positively dystopian," comparing it to the George Orwell novel 1984.
“This Court is once again asked to pull Florida back from the upside down,” Walker wrote in his preliminary injunction. “Before this Court is a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking this Court to enjoin a host of Government officials from enforcing portions of the Individual Freedom Act.”
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The law, first proposed by DeSantis, was passed during Florida's 2022 legislative session and restricted how public university professors could discuss certain concepts related to race. It banned classroom instruction and employee training that included narratives about the superiority of one race over another or that someone bore responsibility and guilt for ancestral wrongdoings based on the color of their skin.
Jeremiah Poff contributed to this report.