Florida taxpayers must continue to fund Marxist “Critical Race Theory” indoctrination in government colleges and universities, according to two federal judges ruling against key parts of the Sunshine State’s popular “Stop WOKE” Act. That means hard-working conservatives in the state will continue to subsidize their own demise.
Ironically, as Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier explained in response, the ruling would protect the supposed “rights” of college professors to promote white supremacy in the classroom at taxpayer expense.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the Republican star who championed the law, slammed the ruling for protecting he called “discriminatory” ideologies. “State universities are funded by taxpayers and directed by elected officials and their appointees,” he said, noting that “many institutions” have been “corrupted by ideology.”
“The state has both a right and a responsibility to ensure instruction at these universities is consistent with the underlying mission and to exclude indoctrination and ideological agenda,” DeSantis added in his statement on social media.
The “Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees” Act (Stop WOKE Act), signed into law in 2022 by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), was designed to rein in the racist ideology known as Critical Race Theory (CRT).
Rooted in Marxism, the “lens” seeks to frame all human institutions and actions in terms of “oppressors” versus “oppressed.” However, as Floridians learned more about the abuses and damage of the dangerous ideology, they asked their elected representatives to act.
A major component of Florida’s Stop WOKE Act was supposed to prohibit CRT indoctrination of students in taxpayer-funded colleges and universities.
Among other measures, it banned propaganda designed to make students “feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin or sex.” It also prohibited tax-funded professors from teaching that “a person’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race.”
But according to a 2-1 panel decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, expecting professors not to teach racist non-sense would be an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.
Of course, the relevant portion of the First Amendment states that Congress shall pass no law infringing on freedom of speech. It does not say, or even imply, that taxpayers must be compelled to subsidize radical ideologies being imposed on students.
According to Trump-appointed Judge Britt Grant in the ruling, Florida’s effort to stop tax—funded indoctrination represents a “breathtaking assertion of power.” “Hearing an idea you disagree with is not discrimination; it is an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or maybe even change your mind,” Grant wrote.
At least one of the judges on the panel, though, seems to understand that this is not the issue. “To be clear, the First Amendment protects all viewpoints in the public square, whether they are conventional or uncontroversial,” wrote Judge Barbara Lagoa. “But it does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.”
“Indeed, in a case involving a private religious university, the Supreme Court held that the government has a ‘compelling’ and ‘overriding interest in eradicating racial discrimination in education,’” continued the Trump-appointed jurist in her dissent.
Of course, Critical Race Theory is racist to the core. Among other issues, it paints all members of disfavored “races” as inherently “oppressors” with unearned “privilege” while portraying members of other races as perpetual “victims” who must overthrow alleged “systemic racism” and supposed “systems of oppression” rooted in skin color.
Lagoa pointed out that Sunshine State is, in fact, working to rein in “racial discrimination” in tax-funded education. “Florida asserts the same interest here,” she wrote. “And if the government has a compelling interest in eradicating racial discrimination in a private university, how much greater is Florida’s interest in eradicating what it deems to be racial discrimination in its own classrooms?”
“We need not agree or disagree with Florida that the viewpoints at issue here constitute racial discrimination; we need only acknowledge that the State is allowed to decide what is endorsed by its professors in its own classrooms,” Lagoa continued. “Because Plaintiffs have not shown a likelihood of success on the merits that the Individual Freedom Act (‘IFA’) is unconstitutional, I respectfully dissent.”
Her dissent also notes that professors at state universities are state employees, and the speech being discussed is happening while they are being paid by the state. And while her colleagues on the court agree that a state can restrict professors’ speech on everything from “irrelevant material” to “conspiracy theories,” somehow the majority rejected Florida’s attempt to rein in CRT.
“[I]n practice, these ‘parameters’ install a judge-made test that is unworkable and whose policy-driven approach to the Constitution reduces the First Amendment to a reflection of judicial preference, regardless of the State’s interests in its classroom instruction,” she observed.
The plaintiffs in the case include students, professors, and a student group. They were represented by lawyers from the far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the conservative-leaning group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). Both groups celebrated the decision.
“Today’s important decision means that college remains a place where professors and students are allowed to debate controversial topics — even if politicians disagree with them,” FIRE attorney Greg Greubel said in a press release. “Today’s ruling makes clear something we’ve known for a long time: Governments cannot censor their way to freedom.”
Radical professors and far-left “news” outlets also celebrated. DeSantis’ loss in this battle in his war on “woke” is “a win for students and faculty committed to discussing ideas free from state interference,” claimed University of Iowa Sociology Professor Victor Ray, a prominent Critical Race Theorist, in a screed for far-left propaganda mouthpiece MSNOW. “In short, his loss is a victory for education.”
The 11th Circuit’s decision should serve as a warning to Republican-controlled states that have followed Florida and attempted to curtail what subjects can be taught and what professors can say,” added the tax-funded ideologue Ray, who also serves as vice president of the far-left American Sociological Association.
By contrast, Florida Attorney General Uthmeier slammed the ruling while praising Lagoa for her dissent. “Barbara Lagoa may be the best jurist in our country,” he said on X. “She should be on SCOTUS.”
Lambasting the appeals court majority, he said they held that professors at government universities “have a First Amendment right to teach white supremacy and critical race theory, and the legislature cannot pass laws that say otherwise.” That is “totally incoherent and inconsistent with the intent of the First Amendment,” he added.
The ruling may not be the last word. Florida has the option to request a re-hearing by the whole court of appeals. The Sunshine State could also go to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has shown a willingness in recent years to support state efforts to rein in taxpayer-funded leftwing extremism.
Ultimately, the weaponization of taxpayer-funded universities to peddle dangerous ideologies such as Marxism and its offshoots like CRT is a symptom of a deeper problem. And while laws such as the Stop WOKE Act are a welcome effort to deal with the crisis, America must tackle the root causes.
By the time young Floridians and Americans make it to radical government universities, they have already spent over a decade being indoctrinated and dumbed down in government-run K-12 “education.” Obviously, this cannot continue. The future of America depends on stopping this — and quick.