Florida Gov. DeSantis signed HB 7 restricting classroom and workplace speech on race and sex

On April 22, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed CS/HB 7, the "Individual Freedom" act (Chapter 2022-72), widely known as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, at a bill-signing event in Hialeah Gardens, Florida. The law barred K-12 schools, public colleges and universities, and private employers from teaching or requiring training that endorses eight specified concepts tied to race, color, sex, or national origin -- including that a person is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive because of their race or sex, or should feel guilt or anguish for historical acts committed by members of the same race or sex -- and amended the Florida Civil Rights Act to make certain race- or sex-based workplace diversity trainings an unlawful employment practice.

The law was challenged in two separate federal lawsuits within months of signing -- Honeyfund.com v. DeSantis over the workplace-training provisions, and Pernell v. Lamb over the higher-education provisions -- and both sets of provisions were later blocked as unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination; the K-12 classroom provisions were not challenged in either case and remain in effect.

Updates

2022-08-18 — District court preliminarily enjoined the workplace-training provisions in Honeyfund.com v. DeSantis [5]

A federal judge in the Northern District of Florida found the workplace-training provisions were a content-based speech restriction likely to violate the First Amendment and blocked their enforcement pending trial.

2022-11-17 — District court preliminarily enjoined the higher-education provisions in Pernell v. Lamb, calling the law "positively dystopian" [6]

In a 139-page order opening with a quote from George Orwell's "1984," Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker blocked enforcement of the law's higher-education provisions in a consolidated case brought by professors and students at two Florida public universities.

2023-03-16 — Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Pernell preliminary injunction blocking the higher-education provisions [4]

A three-judge panel left the district court's higher-education injunction in place pending further proceedings on the merits.

2024-03-04 — Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Honeyfund preliminary injunction blocking the workplace-training provisions [7]

The panel held that the law operates as an unconstitutional viewpoint-based speech restriction, rejecting Florida's argument that it regulates conduct rather than speech.

2024-07-26 — District court entered a permanent injunction against the workplace-training provisions [8]

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a two-page order permanently blocking enforcement of the workplace-training restrictions.

2026-07-07 — Eleventh Circuit issued a 2-1 merits ruling striking down the higher-education provisions as unconstitutional [9]

Ruling on the merits rather than the earlier preliminary injunction, the panel majority held the law's restrictions on university classroom speech violated the First Amendment. Judge Britt Grant wrote for the majority that "if the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it," rejecting Florida's argument that government-paid professors have no First Amendment protection as "breathtaking." Judge Barbara Lagoa dissented.