DeSantis-backed 'Stop WOKE Act' smacked down by Trump appointees

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war on “woke” went too far for two judges appointed by Donald Trump, who called out the Republican's “Stop WOKE Act” for committing a grave First Amendment “sin.” Among other things, the GOP-backed law bars businesses from holding mandatory workplace trainings if they endorse viewpoints the state deems offensive, including on race and diversity. But a federal appeals court panel noted that, under the law, meetings on those same topics are allowed if they endorse state-approved views. The First Amendment doesn’t take kindly to the distinction, which Florida tried to get around by claiming that the law controls the conduct of holding such meetings — which would give the government broader authority to regulate them — rather than the speech that takes place at these meetings. But the appeals court rejected the state's semantic maneuver. “By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content,” Judge Britt Grant of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote Monday. “And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints—the greatest First Amendment sin.” She was joined in the unanimous ruling by another Trump appointee and a Bill Clinton appointee. “The only way to discern which mandatory trainings are prohibited is to find out whether the speaker disagrees with Florida,” Grant went on. “That is a classic—and disallowed—regulation of speech,” she wrote, calling the provision “a textbook regulation of core speech protected by the First Amendment.” To illustrate the absurdity of Florida’s position, the judge observed that, under it, the state could ban riding on a parade float if the authorities disagreed with the message on the banner, and the state could ban pulling chairs into a circle for book clubs discussing disfavored books. The First Amendment is not so easily neutered. “The First Amendment is not so easily neutered,” Grant wrote. So instead of getting to impose its views on Floridians, the state got a basic constitutional lesson — and not from some left-wing panel, either. Nonetheless, the state is reportedly contemplating appealing, which it’s free to do. In the spirit of freedom, however, I wouldn’t mandate that Florida officials instead re-read the Constitution and relevant precedents, but if this Trump-majority panel ruling is any guide, they may want to consider doing so. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.