Federal Appeals Court Invalidates Major Provision of Florida's Stop Woke Act
A federal appeals panel has struck down a significant portion of Florida’s controversial Stop Woke Act, marking another legal defeat for Governor Ron DeSantis’s efforts to limit free speech in higher education.
On Tuesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled by a 2-1 majority that the law’s higher education provision, which restricted college and university professors from teaching or expressing ideas related to race and gender, violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
The court sharply criticized the state’s approach, accusing it of "puppeteering" educators by controlling their speech and effectively making them mouthpieces of the government.
“Because the government pays the professors’ salaries, [Florida] says, their speech is the state’s speech,” Britt Grant, a judge appointed by Donald Trump who authored the majority opinion, stated. “Emphatically no.
“Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is 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 ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not. Either way, in this context the first amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves.”
Impact on DeSantis’s Agenda and Legal Background
This ruling removes a central element of DeSantis’s second-term agenda, which targets what he perceives as left-wing ideology on Florida’s public higher education campuses. Enacted in 2022, the Stop Woke Act—officially known as the Individual Freedom Act—restricted how race and gender topics could be taught in schools and colleges, as well as discussed in workplaces.
The decision aligns with a previous ruling by the same appeals court that blocked the law’s workplace provision, finding that the state was unconstitutionally attempting to recast protected free speech as conduct subject to prohibition.
It also upholds a November 2022 district court injunction that prevented the law’s enforcement at Florida’s colleges and universities. The ruling represents a significant victory for civil rights and free speech advocacy groups that initiated the lawsuit.
Reactions from Plaintiffs and Advocacy Groups
LeRoy Pernell, a professor at Florida A&M University’s College of Law and the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, expressed strong approval of the ruling.
“We are 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,” Pernell said in a statement.
Jin Hee Lee, director of strategic initiatives at the Legal Defense Fund, described the Stop Woke Act as an “egregious” attempt by the DeSantis administration to impose the ruling party’s viewpoints on Florida’s public higher education system.
“It is no coincidence that this state law aimed to censor the perspectives of Black people and LGBTQ+ people, the very same people who are currently under attack,” Lee said.
“With this decision, the federal appeals court has made clear that Florida cannot actively erase their history of discrimination or their lived experiences without running afoul of our constitution.”
Carrie McNamara, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, also praised the ruling as a triumph for free speech.
“By upholding the district court’s ruling, the 11th circuit ensured that our system of higher education is guided by the principle of free speech, not government censorship,” she said.
“Our classrooms are meant to be rooms of curiosity, creativity, and learning. When we stifle this kind of critical thinking, we risk losing our education system as we know it.”
Official Responses
There was no immediate comment on the ruling from the DeSantis administration or from Florida’s unelected attorney general, James Uthmeier, who was appointed by DeSantis in February 2025 after serving as the governor’s chief of staff.
