‘Stop WOKE Act’ remains suspended in universities during legal battle

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which bans educators and employers from teaching that one’s “moral character” is determined by race, sex, or national origin, remains unable to be enforced by the state’s universities after a new ruling.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by Florida to block an injunction on the law.

The order from a panel of three judges ensures that educators cannot enforce the law while its being litigated, but Gov. Ron DeSantis officials are reportedly confident it will ultimately prevail.

Activist groups FIRE, ACLU, and NAACP all filed lawsuits against the Florida law that was signed last year, taking effect July 1, 2022.

In a previous ruling, Judge Mark Walker issued a temporary injunction, calling the law “positively dystopian.”

“Our professors are critical to a healthy democracy, and the State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all,” Walker said. “If our ‘priests of democracy’ are not allowed to shed light on challenging ideas, then democracy will die in darkness.”

Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, said that a so-called “open-minded and critical” learning environment would require one “free from discrimination.”

“The Stop W.O.K.E. Act protects the open exchange of ideas by prohibiting teachers or employers who hold agency over others from forcing discriminatory concepts on students as part of classroom instruction or on employees as a condition of maintaining employment,” he said.

“We are not going to categorize you based on your race. We are not going to tell some kindergartener that they are an oppressor based on their race and what may have happened 100 or 200 years ago,” DeSantis said when he signed the legislation in April 2022.

“We’re not going to tell other kids that they are oppressed based on their race.”

Walker previously issued a similar ruling on the act in relation to businesses.