A federal appeals court has ruled that a Florida law backed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, which restricts diversity and race-based discussions in private workplaces, is unconstitutional.
The decision, made by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, upholds a ruling from a Florida federal judge in August 2022, who deemed the “Stop WOKE” act to violate the First Amendment as it pertains to businesses and to be impermissibly vague.
Circuit Judge Britt C. Grant, writing for the court, stated, “By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content. And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints — the greatest First Amendment sin.”
The governor’s office is considering further appeal options following the court’s decision. In response, they emphasized disagreement with the court’s opinion, stating, “The First Amendment protects no such thing, and the State of Florida should have every right to protect Floridians from racially hostile workplaces.”
The law prohibits teaching or business practices that suggest members of a particular ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions by others. It also prohibits the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by race or gender, or that discrimination is acceptable for achieving diversity.
Governor DeSantis had frequently invoked the law during his presidential campaign, using the slogan that Florida was where “woke goes to die.” Although other aspects of the law related to education have been challenged, they have not been blocked.
Florida attorneys had argued that the law prohibited conduct, such as mandating employees to attend diversity meetings, rather than speech. However, the court disagreed, stating, “Banning speech on a wide variety of political topics is bad; banning speech on a wide variety of political viewpoints is worse.”
The lawsuit was brought forth by private entities, including Clearwater-based Honeyfund.com, claiming that their free speech rights were infringed upon by the law, which restricts company training programs focusing on diversity, inclusion, bias elimination, and workplace harassment prevention. Companies with 15 or more employees could face civil lawsuits for such practices. Honeyfund specializes in wedding registry services.