Florida's 'Stop Woke Act' for Workplaces Blocked by Federal Judge
By: Jennifer Kay
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A Florida law restricting workplace bias or diversity training violates the First Amendment and can’t be enforced, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
The preliminary injunction granted by Chief Judge Mark Walker of the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida doesn’t address application of the law ( H.B. 7 ) in Florida schools. A group of students and educators represented by the ACLU filed a separate federal lawsuit Thursday challenging the law.
“If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case. But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents,” Walker wrote. “Because, without justification, (the law) attacks ideas, not conduct, Plaintiffs are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of this lawsuit.”
Walker compared Florida to the “upside down,” the parallel and distorted reality threatening the characters in the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” The First Amendment bars the state from burdening speech, but Florida officials have barred private actors from burdening speech, he said.
“Recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down,” he wrote. “Now, like the heroine in Stranger Things , this Court is once again asked to pull Florida back from the upside down.”
The law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of private employers and consultants for diversity, equity, and inclusion training, according to the lawsuit filed by honeymoon registry technology company Honeyfund.com, Ben & Jerry’s franchisee Primo Tampa, and workplace diversity consultancy Collective Concepts and its co-founder Chevara Orrin.
The plaintiffs are represented by Protect Democracy and Ropes & Gray LLC.
Shalini Goel Agarwal, counsel at Protect Democracy, said the law was “a direct attack on American free speech values as well as on free enterprise in Florida.”
“It is a fundamental value in our democracy that the government cannot punish speech that it dislikes, and it is especially important to protect speech that advocates for groups historically excluded from power,” said Ropes & Gray partner Doug Hallward-Driemeier.
In a separate challenge filed by two teachers, a student, and a consulting firm, Walker declined to block the law from taking effect July 1, saying those plaintiffs lacked standing to pursue a preliminary injunction.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed the legislation this year as part of his campaign targeting what he calls “corporate wokeness.”
The governor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Training that endorses certain concepts related to racism, sexism, privilege, and merit-based advancement—such as individuals “must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” because of past actions by other people of the same race or sex—“constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin,” according to the legislation.
If discrimination claims filed under Florida’s Civil Rights Act make it to court, an employee potentially could win back pay and compensatory damages, plus punitive damages not to exceed $100,000.
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Free speech? I guess it no longer has to conform to republican mandates....
another meaningless maga wedge issue just in time for the midterms.
Free speech to DiSantis is only what he believes in.
Currently, there are three other lawsuits against the ''woke act''.
funny how the constitution usually trips up the maga's legislative agenda, ain't it...
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I think DeSantis is getting near serious jeopardy of being seen as a one trick pony, a crusade against "wokeism". I dont think that is a workable reason to elect him president in 2 years.
Don't underestimate DeSantis. He'll be the go to guy when Trump goes to prison
Appears to be what DeSantis is relying on.
Or has a stroke or some other significant health issue.
It's not only DeSantis, right-wing wokeism has 'republicans' in its thrall:
"A conservative “dark money” group is claiming that it will spend millions of dollars in the run-up to the midterm election blasting what it calls “the woke ideology of sheltered white liberals.”
Citizens for Sanity, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization working with prominent Republican consultants, has begun running a television, newspaper and billboard advertising campaign in battleground congressional districts, according to details shared first with POLITICO. This week, the organization says it will begin running a contentious six-figure TV ad blitz highlighting the issue of transgender women playing on sports teams that match their gender identity."
Why do these organizations keep getting tax exempt status...
No idea, that kind of crap is a huge nono up here.
You were imagining that DeSantis cares about this personally?
He's a politician. He cares about whatever is likely to get him votes.
Good God, why? I mean I tend to agree with the idea that - at least in a competitive setting - transwomen probably shouldn’t be competing against cis women (although I believe the issue should be addressed on an individual basis).
But a “six-figure TV ad blitz?” What for? This issue comes up like, less than supermoons do. There are SOOOOO many things that we have to worry about in this world. The issue of the trans female athlete has to be WAY down on the list of things society and government need to fix.
Just ask a woke republican....
All the new abnormal of the cult of45
"highlighting the issue of transgender women playing on sports teams that match their gender identity."
Good choice to focus on, it amounts to a losing issue for the Dems, because most people believe in fairness
Good? Try desperate.
they have nothing else to run on...
They did but they adopted the old Democrat playbook of circular firing squads ... hell, they even have their own brand of 'wokeism'!
for a good many of them, that type of wokeism allegedly starts here for the next life, and I won't be taking either journey with them.
Republicans like to hold themselves up as defenders of the Constitution - particularly regarding liberty. And while, many individual Republicans may act out that ideology, clearly at the level of the Party, it is not true. It is also not true for the Republicans most interested in advancing their agenda or personal power.
[And before anybody says it, I see the same thing in the Democratic Party, but this seed is about a Republican].
DeSantis has consistently tried to use his power to tell private companies what they can and cannot do - from how they reacted to Covid to the issue in this seed.