In the past year, a number of states have begun to dismantle their DEI programs. Alabama, Utah, Texas and Florida have all passed and signed into law anti-DEI legislation ranging from prohibiting diversity training to terminating all positions associated with DEI efforts. Florida lawmakers have restricted the teaching of what they call racially “divisive” subject matter in public schools, colleges and universities. Legislatures in more than two dozen additional states are considering similar measures.
First Amendment
They/Them vs. Him/Her: A Federal Judge Will Decide Legality of Florida’s Ban on Pronoun Freedom
A federal judge on Friday heard arguments in a court battle over a law restricting educators’ use of personal pronouns and titles in schools, in one of a series of challenges to Florida policies targeting LGBTQ people. The challenge alleges the law violates the teachers’ First Amendment rights and runs afoul of a federal civil-rights law.
DeSantis Signs Bill Restricting Children’s Social Media Accounts and Inviting Yet Another Lawsuit
With the state preparing for a legal challenge from the tech industry, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a high-profile bill aimed at keeping children off social-media platforms. Paul Renner and other key supporters argue that social-media companies have created addictive platforms that harm children’s mental health and can lead to sexual predators communicating with minors. But critics, including tech-industry groups, argue the bill is unconstitutional and point to courts blocking similar legislation in other states.
As Supreme Court Takes on Florida Law Forcing Social Media’s Hand, Maybe It’s Time to Reinterpret the First Amendment
Florida is in the middle of an epic legal battle over concepts of free speech, press freedom and unimpeded commerce. It’s a clash between internet publishers, who want the government to leave them alone, and Republican leaders who insist that social media platforms are too powerful to be run by giant, faceless corporations that can — and do — impose their tastes on all of us.
After DeSantis Veto, Lawmakers Pass Watered-Down Social Media Ban Awash in Loopholes
The bill, in part, would prevent children under age 16 from opening social-media accounts — though it would allow parents to give consent for 14- and 15-year-olds to have accounts. Children under 14 could not open accounts, but the revamped plan does not include age-verification requirements, making the ban moot but for the state’s vague threat of lawsuits.
Renner and DeSantis Trying to Ward Off Veto Over Social Media Ban for Children Under-16
With a Friday deadline looming, House Speaker Paul Renner said Wednesday that he and Gov. Ron DeSantis are trying to work out differences on a bill aimed at keeping children under age 16 off social-media platforms. Renner is keeping silent on alternatives.
Bill Banning Children Younger Than 16 From Social Media Passes and Heads for a Skeptical DeSantis
Florida lawmakers Thursday gave final approval to a bill that seeks to keep children under age 16 off social-media platforms, as Gov. Ron DeSantis continued to raise concerns about the measure. The House voted 108-7 to pass the bill (HB 1), which has been a priority of House Speaker Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast. That came after the Senate voted 23-14 earlier in the day to approve the measure.
Moms for Liberty’s Book of Morons
The moms of Moms for “Liberty” are feeling a little touchy, put-upon, even diminished. Their do-boy DeSantis crashed out of the presidential race. They’re losing school board elections. They’re making idiots of themselves in the national media, as when Moms co-founder Tiffany Justice simultaneously defends taking books off school library shelves while denying that Moms want books taken off school library shelves, unless they’re by Black writers or gay writers, or ones dealing with the Holocaust, racism, or any sex.
Senate Backs Paul Renner Initiative Banning Children Younger Than 16 From Social Media, With Caveats
The House overwhelmingly passed the initial version last month, and the newly revised version does not change the basic components. It would prevent children under 16 from creating accounts on at least some social-media platforms; require platforms to terminate existing accounts that they know or have “reason to believe” are held by minors younger than 16; and allow parents to request that minors’ accounts be terminated.
Florida’s Sunshine Law Is Dying
The battle, mostly lost, is not those individual exemptions to the Sunshine Law. It’s the totality of what’s been lost over the years: a presumption of openness has been replaced by the reverse, thanks to an unspoken but very effective bureaucracy of secrecy by process. The secrecy isn’t explicit. Most of your average government gatekeepers would never think of themselves as suppressing information. But the rules they have in place, allowing them to delay, obfuscate, censor and charge a ton of money before they comply, amount to the same thing: secrecy as standard operating procedure.
Federal Judge Rules Against Palestinian Students on Florida Campuses, Saying They’ve Not Been Silenced
Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida and Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of South Florida filed lawsuits in November alleging that efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis and state university leaders to disband the groups violated their First Amendment rights.
Disney Is Appealing Decision Dismissing Its Free-Speech Lawsuit Against DeSantis
Disney filed a notice of appeal on Thursday, one day after U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor ruled against the company’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the governor’s replacement of the old Reedy Creek Improvement District with another governing entity that DeSantis personally controls.
The New York Times v. ChatGPT
On Dec. 27, 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging that the company committed willful copyright infringement through its generative AI tool ChatGPT. The Times claimed both that ChatGPT was unlawfully trained on vast amounts of text from its articles and that ChatGPT’s output contained language directly taken from its articles.
Bill Would Impose $100 Fee on Non-Parents Who Want Books Banned, But Only If They Lose the Challenge
An earlier version of the bill (HB 7025) proposed a $100 “processing” fee for people who file more than five book objections in a calendar year if the people do not have students enrolled in the schools where the books are challenged. But under the change approved Tuesday by the House Education & Employment Committee, the fees would only be assessed if book challenges are unsuccessful. The House panel unanimously approved the revised bill.
How AI Threatens Free Speech
A serious danger which gets surprisingly little media attention is the impact new artificial intelligence technologies are likely to have on freedom of expression. And, in particular, how they’re able to undermine some of the most foundational legal tenets that protect free speech.
In Free Florida, the Dictionary Is Dangerous to Your Children
A few people who call themselves parents but are really frustrated bullies who want everyone else to lead the miserable lives they do, at least when they’re not engaging in threesomes, have successfully made black holes of Florida’s school and classroom libraries and further marginalized slews of children whose one solace might have been that one book.
Don’t Wave Gay: Long In Force in Flagler Schools, Bill Would Ban Pride and ‘Ideological’ Flags from Public Buildings
The Florida House today began moving forward with a proposal that would restrict the types of flags that can be displayed at government buildings and schools, including preventing the display of LGBTQ pride flags. That ban has long been enforced in Flagler schools, based on an interpretation of local policy.
Elise Stefanik’s Immoral Compass, and Ours
When Rep. Elise Stefanik grilled then-Harvard President Claudine Gay about her “moral clarity” about genocide and bullying on campus, Israel was in its eighth week of the most genocidal assault on Palestinians in the history of Arab-Jewish wars predating even the creation of Israel in 1948. None of it was relevant to Stefanik, because when Israel is the subject matter, there are no two sides to the story. There are no interpretations. There is no discussion. None permissible, anyway. There is only dogma. Anything else is heresy.
As Escambia County Bans 1,600 Titles, Including Dictionaries, a Lawsuit Is Cleared for Trial
A federal judge cleared the way for a First Amendment challenge to decisions by the Escambia County School Board to remove or restrict access to school library books. An updated list of Escambia’s now-1,600 banned titles includes five dictionaries, The Guinness Book of World Records, a Thurgood Marshall biography, Sherlock Holmes and many more.
Lawmakers File Bills to Prohibit Youths Under 16 From Having Social Media Accounts, and End Existing Ones
The bills would require social-media platforms to bar minors under 16 from creating social-media accounts and use “reasonable age verification” methods to check the ages of people when accounts are created. The bills also would require social-media platforms to terminate existing accounts that are “reasonably known” by the platforms to be held by minors younger than 16 and would allow parents to request that minors’ accounts be terminated.
An Interview with Acclaimed Civil Rights Attorney and Equal Justice Initiative Founder Bryan Stevenson
Bryan Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal clinic in Montgomery, Ala., that’s made strides on prisoners’ behalf, and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a six-acre remembrance space highlighting the racial terrorism campaign that saw the lynching of over 6,500 victims, including women and children. In a wide-ranging interview, he reflects on the state of race in America and how honest accounts of history can help overcome resistance to progress.
School Board and Other Elected Officials Could Soon Be Barred from Censoring People on Social Media
At stake is what constitutes state action – or action taken in an official governmental capacity – on social media. Under the First Amendment, officials engaging in state action cannot restrict individuals’ freedom of speech and expression. The ruling could establish whether social media accounts of public officials should be treated as personal or governmental.
Taking On Artificial Intelligence, Florida Legislature Will Contend Unpredictable Scenarios in Coming Session
As access to artificial intelligence, or AI, continues to spread, state lawmakers are poised to consider ways to set up guardrails around a technology that one senator said has “outpaced government regulation.” Measures filed by Senate and House Republicans target issues such as potential defamation of people using AI in media, use of the technology in political advertising and the creation of a state council that would look at potential legislative reforms.
Anti-LGBTQ Activist Wants Flagler Library System to Stop Paying $173 Membership to American Library Association
The Flagler County library system is hoping to fend off an attempt by a South Florida activist opposed to LGBTQ equality to sever library staff memberships in the American Library Association and its affiliates, though currently that entire cost amounts to $173. It is the latest flare-up of an ongoing push by the far right in schools and libraries to restrict or ban LGBTQ-related materials, themes or associations, particularly in connection with children’s access or programs, though in this case the connection–if there is one–is tenuous.
Federal Judge Will Hear Arguments in Escambia Schools’ Book-Banning Case in January
The case is playing out amid wide-ranging debates in Florida and other states about school officials removing or restricting access to books. The plaintiffs in the Escambia County case contend that the school board’s decisions violated First Amendment and constitutional equal-protection rights. Attorneys for the school board argue the judge should dismiss the case because the board has authority to decide which books to purchase and keep on school shelves.
The Minefield of College Free Speech Codes
Private colleges and universities have speech codes that allow them to punish certain speech. But in their testimony before Congress about antisemitism on their campuses, college presidents tripped, triggered a furor over their prevarications. and one of them resigned after failing to respond clearly to a simple question.
Hearing Set in Ban of Palestinian Group at USF
A federal judge has scheduled a hearing Jan. 26 in a lawsuit filed by the group Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Florida after state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues issued an order targeting such organizations.
Justice in Palestine Student Group at USF Sues DeSantis Over His Order to Ban It
The University of South Florida chapter of the group National Students for Justice in Palestine has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and state higher-education officials over an order that called for disbanding the organization on campuses.
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects DeSantis Attempt to Enforce Drag Show Law Halted in Lower Courts
A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration that would have allowed enforcement of a new state law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows. U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell this summer issued a statewide preliminary injunction against the law, finding that it violated First Amendment rights.
Realtors Want Their Signs in Rights of Way. Palm Coast Warns that Hate and Other Signs Would Follow.
Palm Coast Council member Ed Danko is leading the charge on behalf of Realtors and other businesses to open up city rights of way to their advertising signs on weekends. Fellow Council member Theresa Pontieri is warning that doing so would open up rights of ways to every sign imaginable, including hate signs, while overwhelming the city’s Code Enforcement Department. The council is split on an issue it will have to decide soon.
UF Ordered to Pay $372,000 in Legal Fees in Case that Violated Professors’ 1st Amendment Rights
A federal judge has awarded more than $372,000 in legal fees to attorneys who represented professors in a high-profile lawsuit against the University of Florida over being able to serve as expert witnesses in court cases.
When Even Ed Danko Is Right
Ed Danko is right to resist Mayor David Alfin’s proposal to have all council members sign “Code of Conduct,” including a pledge of civility. It is not an elected board’s place collectively to regulate or codify its members’ behavior, or government’s place to force pledges of any kind on anyone.
ACLU Calls Out Florida’s Suppression of Palestinian Students’ Voices
Top leaders at the American Civil Liberties Union criticized Florida in a letter Wednesday for demanding the deactivation of chapters of a pro-Palestine student organization. More than 600 college and university leaders received the letter, urging them to reject political calls to investigate and punish student groups for exercising free speech.
‘In God We Trust’ Tests Limits of Religion in Public Schools
Louisiana passed a law in August 2023 requiring public schools to post “In God We Trust” in every classroom – from elementary school to college. Even under recent Supreme Court precedents, the Louisiana law may violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from promoting religion.
DeSantis’s Censorship University System Is Causing a Brain Drain
DeSantis is obsessed with remaking education according to his authoritarian tendencies, doing his damnedest to wreck K-12 with his army of book-banning harpies in “Moms for Liberty” and his Scared Karens legislation, and forbidding honest discussion of slavery and racism so as to never make white kids feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress.”
DeSantis Appealing to U.S. Supreme Court a Ruling Blocking Ban on Drag Shows
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court in a fight about a ruling that blocked statewide a new law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows. The state’s attorneys want the Supreme Court to approve a partial stay of a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell issued to block the law.
Palm Coast Council Will Expand Public Comment Segments at Workshops, Even at Risk of Epic Meetings
The Palm Coast City Council will expand its public comment segments at workshops even if it risks lengthening often-epic sessions. Council members cited the importance of public comments–and the extent to which such comments can educate members and sway decision-making. Nick Klufas, the senior member of the council(he’s in his seventh year), cautioned that the council “could potentially get gunked up via this process.”
Palm Coast Moving To Loosen Sign Ordinance, Allowing More Free Expression–and Realtors’ Sales Pitches
A proposed rewriting of Palm Coast’s sign ordinance would not change the look of the city markedly, preserving most of the restrictions in place now. But a draft ordinance–still very much a work in progress–errs on the more permissive than restrictive side, now that local governments are largely (but not entirely) barred from regulating what signs say. That means homeowners will get to express themselves more freely, including with hate speech. Realtors will get to plant more signs.
Flagler County Tried to Evict a Tenant at the Airport. Jury Called It Retaliation and a Violation of 1st Amendment.
Flagler County Airport Director Roy Sieger sent Les Abend an eviction notice regarding the hangar Abend had leased for over four years. A two-day trial resulted in a verdict against the county, with a jury finding that the county was retaliating against Abend, a former member of the county’s airport advisory board, for his criticism of Sieger. An eviction case turned into a rare First Amendment case in County Court. Abend will get to keep the hangar.
Drag Shows Can Go On in Florida: Court Rejects Ban
It’s OK to take in a drag show in Florida — a federal appeals court has upheld a block on enforcement of Florida’s anti-drag law against any entertainment venue in the state.
Sheriff Chitwood’s Dangerous, Irresponsible Attacks on News-Journal’s Frank Fernandez
Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s repeated, vilifying and unjustified attacks on News-Journal reporter Frank Fernandez irresponsibly and dangerously inflame his social media base at a time when reporters’ safety is nothing to take lightly–the more so when a law enforcement chief who should know better is stoking the flames. Volusia County media should respond in concert.
Where the Supreme Court Stands on Banning Books
Until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a newer case, the lower courts will look to existing precedent, set in a legal ruling that dates back to 1982. In that ruling, the court declared that school personnel have a lot of discretion related to the content of their libraries, but this “discretion may not be exercised in a narrowly partisan or political manner.”
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Florida Law Forcing Social Media to Carry Objectionable Content
The Texas and Florida legislatures passed the laws at the center of the disputes in 2021. The Florida law, known as S.B. 7072 or the Stop Social Media Censorship Act, prohibits social-media companies from banning political candidates and “journalistic enterprises.” The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to weigh in on the constitutionality of the controversial laws.
Bible Challenge in Flagler Schools Unravels Inconsistencies, Arbitrariness and Confusion in Review Process
A challenge of the Bible’s presence in some of Flagler County’s public school libraries is unraveling the inconsistencies, contradictions, flaws, and arbitrariness of Flagler County’s book-challenge process. The challenge, filed by Palm Coast resident Bob Gordon, cites 67 passages he claims are sexually explicit, sadistic, graphically violent and bigoted.
Academic Freedom Greatly Bothers the GOP
The last few years have witnessed a number of disturbing and blunt challenges to academic freedom, mostly from right-wing legislators in GOP-controlled state legislatures. For a sizable segment of the Republican party, so-called “divisive concepts” represent the belief by historians that the institutions of the United States were established to maintain racial and gender hierarchies in addition to maintaining the supremacy of White Americans.
Quran Burning and the Line Between Free Expression and Incitement of Hatred
While freedom of expression is a fundamental human right in liberal democracies, the right to express one’s opinion can become complex when expressing one’s views clashes with the religious and cultural beliefs of others and when this rhetoric veers into hate speech.
Sally Hunt Wanted to Censure School Board Chair For Going Off Script in Talk Over Segregated Assembly
Flagler County School Board Chair Cheryl Massaro said fellow Board member Sally Hunt considered calling for a vote of censure against her because Massaro did not stick to a script provided her before last week’s press conference denouncing Bunnell Elementary’s segregated assembly days earlier.
Escambia County School Board Wants to Ban Any Book It Wishes
The Escambia County School Board is urging a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit filed by authors, a publishing company, parents and a non-profit organization challenging the removal or restriction of books in school libraries. It argues that it has authority to decide what books will be allowed in schools and that a new state law helps shield it from the allegations.
Education Officials Want Lawsuit Over Gay Penguins Book Tossed Out, Claiming It’s Moot. Litigants Disagree.
“And Tango makes Three” had been banned for students up to third grade by Lake County schools, then allowed in libraries. It tells the story of two male penguins who raised a penguin chick at New York’s Central Park Zoo. In a filing last month seeking a preliminary injunction, attorneys for the plaintiffs disputed that the case is moot. They argued, in part, that the district could reverse course again and restrict access to the book in libraries.
Texas University Suspends Professor Accused of Criticizing Lt. Governor in Lecture on Opioids
The professor, Joy Alonzo, an expert on the opioids crisis, was placed on paid administrative leave and investigated, raising questions about the extent of political interference in higher education, particularly in health-related matters.