Federal appeals court OKs block of key provision of Florida's 'Stop WOKE Act'

In a blow to Gov. Ron DeSantis "war on woke," a federal appeals court Monday agreed with a lower court judge on blocking a key provision to Florida's 2022 “Stop WOKE Act."

That provision restricted businesses' diversity practices and trainings, blocking concepts that could make employees feel "personal responsibility" for actions committed in the past — such as discriminatory ones — by someone of the "same race, color, sex or national origin."

That language had been iced by U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of Tallahassee, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama. A unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concurred, despite Florida's assertion that its actions were OK because the law restricts conduct, not speech.

"We cannot agree, and we reject this latest attempt to control speech by recharacterizing it as conduct," wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Britt Grant, appointed by former President Donald Trump.

"Florida may be exactly right about the nature of the ideas it targets. Or it may not. Either way, the merits of these views will be decided in the clanging marketplace of ideas rather than a codebook or a courtroom."

In promoting the law, DeSantis bashed "corporate wokeness" and critical race theory, or CRT.

CRT, an academic concept that studies racism as a social construct, is a top target of conservatives across the nation. Proponents argue that learning the history of racism is crucial to addressing the inequities that result from it, while critics say it singles out white people as the bad guys.

Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis' press secretary, said the governor's office is "reviewing all options on appeal going forward," which could potentially set it up for U.S. Supreme Court review.

The next step, however, would be to ask the entire 21-judge appellate court to rehear the case. Federal court rules say such a request "is not favored and ordinarily will not be ordered unless ... the proceeding involves a question of exceptional importance."

"Today, the ... Eleventh Circuit has held that companies have a right to indoctrinate their employees with racist and discriminatory ideologies," Redfern said in a statement.

"We disagree with the Court’s opinion that employers can require employees to be taught—as a condition of employment—that one race is morally superior to another race," he continued. "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 was challenged by Primo Tampa LLC, a Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream franchisee; Honeyfund.com Inc., a Clearwater-based technology company that provides wedding registries; and Chevara Orrin and her company, Collective Concepts LLC.

Those plaintiffs and one of their attorneys, Shalini Goel Agarwal, praised the opinion.

“The government obviously has no right to patrol my workplace for words that some politicians don’t like,” said Antonio McBroom, CEO of Primo Tampa, in a statement. “And the government obviously has no right to substitute its preferences for those of any businesses’ guests and team members.”

Another key provision of the "Stop WOKE Act," which limited discussion of race, gender and other topics in university classrooms, was also blocked by Walker. It too awaits a 11th Circuit ruling.

The News Service of Florida and USA TODAY contributed. This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Federal appeals court deals blow to DeSantis' 'Stop WOKE Act'