Appeals court slams Florida’s ‘Stop-Woke’ law...

[Jessica_Rose]

Appeals court slams Florida's 'Stop-Woke' law for committing 'greatest First Amendment sin'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/appeals-court-slams-florida-s-stop-woke-law-for-committing-greatest-first-amendment-sin/ar-BB1jky9M?ocid=windirect&cvid=fb3943e32d234a2ea52d28998bc93c8e&ei=22

Story by Andrew Atterbury (4 March 2024)

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida is legally blocked from enforcing a key portion of the high-profile 2022 law restricting what Gov. Ron DeSantis called "woke" workplace trainings about race after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that the policy "exceeds the bounds of the First Amendment."

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the DeSantis administration by deeming one of the Republican governor's signature laws — the "Stop Woke" Act — unconstitutional, upholding a previous ruling that prevented it from taking hold. DeSantis officials, meanwhile, disagreed with the decision, signaling that the governor could ask the Supreme Court to weigh in.

"By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content," Judge Britt C. Grant, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in the opinion. "And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints — the greatest First Amendment sin."