Federal appeals court blocks censorship on race and gender issues

ACLU -  The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an order in July that blocked Florida from enforcing the Stop W.O.K.E. Act in the state’s universities.  Florida is one of 24 states that has passed laws restricting instruction on race and gender in higher education since 2020. Taken together, these laws represent a nationwide backlash to progress in racial justice, but this case marks the first time an appellate court has ruled that this type of classroom censorship law is unconstitutional in higher education.

The order came in a lawsuit we filed on behalf of professors who were forced to censor their instruction on specific topics related to race and gender that are central to their academic scholarship and coursework. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act limited training and instruction on eight so-called “divisive concepts” parroted from an executive order issued by then-President Donald Trump and rescinded by then-President Joe Biden. After we sued, a federal district court described the law as “positively dystopian” and blocked enforcement of the higher education provisions of the law. Last month, the Eleventh Circuit agreed, holding that the Stop W.O.K.E. Act violated the First Amendment.