11th Circuit strikes down part of Florida's 'Stop WOKE Act' as unconstitutional
Source: Courthouse News Service
July 7, 2026
ATLANTA (CN) — Part of a Florida law limiting discussions on race, gender and diversity unconstitutionally restricts the speech of college professors, a divided 11th Circuit panel ruled Tuesday.“If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,” U.S. Circuit Judge Britt Grant wrote on behalf of the majority.
In a 2-1 decision, the Atlanta-based appeals court rejected a request by Florida officials to toss out a federal judge’s ruling preventing the Sunshine State from enforcing a provision of Florida’s Individual Freedom Act, also known as the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees Act (Stop WOKE Act).
The law would have restricted state university professors from endorsing certain views on eight concepts related to race, color, national origin or sex during classroom discussions.
The Individual Freedom Act amended the Florida Education Equality Act by creating new speech restrictions barring any “training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels” students at public state universities to believe any of eight concepts: a “blacklist of ideas,” an attorney for the plaintiffs said.
Read more: https://courthousenews.com/11th-circuit-strikes-down-part-of-floridas-stop-woke-act-as-unconstitutional/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/pernell-v-fl-board-of-governors-of-state-university-11th-cir-ruling.pdf
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