A federal judge on Thursday blocked parts of legislation spearheaded by Florida governor Ron DeSantis that limited private employers from discussing or holding trainings on diversity, equity, and inclusion that incorporate critical race theory.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida Chief Judge Mark Walker struck down the workplace provisions in the law. In the decision, he declared that it infringes on free speech protections under the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause for being impermissibly vague.
“In the popular television series Stranger Things, the ‘upside down’ describes a parallel dimension containing a distorted version of our world,” Walker, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, wrote. “Recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down.”
Coined the “Stop WOKE Act,” the Republican-backed law prohibits schools and companies from inserting critical race theory teachings, such as a lesson on systemic racism and white guilt, into student curricula or staff programming.
“Normally, the First Amendment bars the state from burdening speech, while private actors may burden speech freely,” the Obama-appointed judge said. “But in Florida, the First Amendment apparently bars private actors from burdening speech, while the state may burden speech freely.”
A coalition of businesses, including a honeymoon registry technology company, a Ben & Jerry’s franchisee, and a workplace diversity consulting firm, sued the state on the grounds that the law encroaches on their freedom of speech as private enterprises.
Walker granted the preliminary injunction, directing Florida attorney general Ashley Moody and the commissioners of the Florida Commission on Human Relations to stop enforcement of the employer clause. He allowed the K-12 clause to remain in place for now. Walker did not apply the injunction to DeSantis.
“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case,” Walker wrote. “But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents. Because, without justification, the [bill] attacks ideas, not conduct, [the businesses] are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of this lawsuit.”
Lawyers for the state argued that the law only prohibits employers from subjecting employees to “certain speech against their will” or else put their jobs in jeopardy. An example the state might have had in mind is a mandatory DEI training that requires staff to attest to certain racial statements of deeply-rooted injustice in America due to the historic oppression of white people.
On Thursday, a group of complainants including the ACLU, the ACLU of Florida, and ACLU Legal Defense Fund, launched litigation against the state targeting the public school component of the law, which it claims prevents instructors and students from conversing about “systemic racism and sexism.”
They argued that the law is “racially motivated censorship that the Florida legislature enacted, in significant part, to stifle widespread demands to discuss, study, and address systemic inequalities.”