DeSantis critical race theory ban ‘Stop WOKE Act’ blocked in Florida schools by appeals court

A federal appeals court judge halted the reinstatement a law supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis (Republican-Fla.) would have prohibited the inclusion of critical race theory into public schools. A lower court injunction was placed against the measure.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 11th Circuit refused to lift an order by the lower court that had prevented Florida’s public schools or universities from enforcing Stop WOKE Act. The Act is intended to limit how public education teachers can discuss certain concepts relating racial issues according to a brief ruling that did not address the merits of that case.

JUDGE TOSSES OUT PART DESANTIS’S STOP WOKE ACT. CITES 1985 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 was 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,” The spokesperson for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said that the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression had spoken to the Washington Examiner. FIRE was one the two groups that sued and won in blocking the measure last Nov.

DeSantis’ press secretary told the Washington Examiner According to the governor’s office, it remains firm in its belief that law will stand up under scrutiny. “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 concluded.

A professor from the University of South Florida sued a student representing a campus freedom speech group over the law. They cited academic and free speech concerns and were granted injunctive relief by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Mark Walker.

Walker called it the law “positively dystopian,” Comparing it to George Orwell’s novel 1984.

“This Court is once again asked to pull Florida back from the upside down,” Walker wrote 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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DeSantis first proposed the law. It was passed during Florida’s 2022 legislative sessions. The law restricted the way public university professors can discuss certain concepts regarding race. It also banned teacher training and classroom instruction that included narratives about the superiority or guilt of one race over the other.

Jeremiah Poff contributed this report.