Florida’s so-called Stop WOKE Act, championed by anti-LGBTQ+ Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), received a major blow on Tuesday, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a 2022 injunction against applying the law to colleges and universities. 

In the 2-1 decision, the judges called the law “a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry – classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.” 

---

---

The Stop WOKE Act censors protected speech on racism and gender-based discrimination in classrooms and workplaces with more than 15 employees. The law is so broadly and vaguely written that many have worried it discourages all lessons on diversity and societal prejudice.

The text of the law forbids any training or instructions that compel a student or laborer “to believe that members of any race, color, sex, or national origin” are morally superior, inherently biased, privileged, worthy of discrimination, or that they should feel distressed or bear responsibility for past actions of their associated people.

This essentially means that anti-discrimination sensitivity trainings and classroom lessons cannot suggest that people may be unaware of their own social privilege. Anyone who leaves a training feeling upset about its depiction of their own identities and privileges could essentially sue a school or business.

“If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,” the 11th Circuit’s decision declared. 

Barbara Lagoa, who was appointed to the 11th Circuit by the current president, cast the lone “no” vote against the injunction, reportedly claiming in a dissent that the First Amendment “does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.”

Florida’s anti-LGBTQ+ Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) praised Lagoa’s viewpoint, writing on social media that she “may be the best jurist in our country” and “should be on SCOTUS.”

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=MollySpray&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=2074535858590404648&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lgbtqnation.com%2F2026%2F07%2Fcourt-issues-major-blow-to-desantiss-stop-woke-act-calls-it-a-breathtaking-assertion-of-power%2F&sessionId=e753d1ad7dc85f442867f4c5761f0580eff6fba5&siteScreenName=lgbtqnation&theme=light&widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&width=500px

In 2022, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a temporary injunction against the college- and university-portion of the law, calling it “positively dystopian” and referencing George Orwell’s 1984 in his 138-page decision.

“The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints,” Walker wrote. “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.”

In 2024, Walker also entered a permanent injunction against the workplace portion of the law, saying it violates businesses’ free speech rights. The 11th Circuit upheld that ruling as well. 

The ACLU, which filed the 2022 lawsuit, celebrated the ruling, with Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, declaring that it “sets a strong precedent that higher education cannot be limited to the whims of politicians.”

“All students and educators deserve to have a free and open exchange about ideas without government control,” Watson said. “Students can’t fight racial discrimination that they don’t see; training and instruction is key to empowering future leaders to pursue racial justice.”

Roy Pernell, a law professor at Florida A&M University and the named plaintiff in the case, said the team is “thrilled the court has stopped the erasure of topics that have real implications for our students, allowing them to learn, discuss, and develop tools for combatting the complex issue of racism in our country without being gagged by those who would dictate that only state-approved thought may be promoted.”