Businesses allege ‘Stop WOKE Act’ violates speech rights

As a federal judge considers whether to block a new state law that Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act,” businesses filed a second challenge Wednesday alleging that the law violates First Amendment rights.

The law, passed during this year’s legislative session, restricts the way certain race-related concepts can be taught in public schools and in workplace training.

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The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Tallahassee by two businesses and a consultant who conducts workplace training, alleges that the law is “an immediate infringement of plaintiffs’ free speech rights.”

“This law enacts unconstitutional viewpoint-based restrictions on the speech of Florida’s business owners and employers operating within the state in violation of their First Amendment rights,” the lawsuit said. “It employs nebulous terms with vague definitions to chill protected speech with which Florida’s governor and certain elected officials disagree, while protecting speech more aligned with their viewpoints on certain issues.”

The challenge was filed a day after Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker heard arguments about whether he should issue a preliminary injunction against the law, which is slated to take effect July 1. Those arguments came in a case filed in April by public-school teachers, a University of Central Florida associate professor, a child who will be a public-school student in the coming year and the president of a firm that provides workplace training.

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As of late Wednesday afternoon, Walker had not ruled on the request for a preliminary injunction, according to an online docket. But during Tuesday’s hearing, he expressed concerns about the plaintiffs’ legal standing to pursue blocking the law.