Trump-Appointed Judge Nixes Ron DeSantis’ Crackdown On ‘WOKE’ In Universities

A Trump-appointed judge ruled against part of Republican Florida Gov. Ron Desantis’s “Stop WOKE Act” on Tuesday holding that it violates the First Amendment.

In a 2-1 decision the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit blocked the higher education portion of the 2022 Sunshine State law that was meant to stop left-wing gender ideology and critical race theory from being taught in schools, according to the ruling.

The 2022 law prohibited professors and workplace training from teaching about race or gender in a way that induces guilt or blame in the classroom, under threat of a fine or penalty.

Florida argued that the professor’s classroom speech belongs to the state because they are paid by the government.

Judge Britt Grant — who President Donald Trump appointed to the bench during his first term — ruled, “If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it.”

DeSantis did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

“Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse,” Grant’s ruling continued. “The provision at issue here disallows any ‘training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels’ students at Florida public colleges and universities to believe any of eight concepts relating to topics like race and sex.”

The latest decision came from two lawsuits brought by professors, students and a student group who argued that the law caused unconstitutional classroom censorship, according to the ruling.