Gov. Ron DeSantis called the 11th Circuit’s blocking of the “Stop WOKE Act” a “clear and unfortunate example of judicial overreach,” reacting to the second ruling this week against his anti “woke” agenda.
In a social media post about 24 hours after the ruling, the governor made clear his displeasure with the 2-1 federal appeals court decision.
“State universities are funded by taxpayers and directed by elected officials and their appointees,” DeSantis wrote, reiterating an argument made by the state in the lawsuit spanning four years. “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 agendas.”
The court’s majority opinion was written by Judge Britt Grant, an nominee of President Donald Trump. Grant was joined by Judge Charles Wilson, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton.
“The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe not. Either way, in this context the First Amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves,” Grant wrote for the majority in a 52-page opinion.
Judge Barbara Lagoa saw it different than the other two. She was appointed by Trump, too, and had previously been appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by DeSantis.
DeSantis, at the time the Stop WOKE Act became law, was building a record he would cite while running for the GOP nomination for president.
The law prohibited teaching that “promotes” or “compels” students to believe eight concepts spelled out in statute, including:
- That any race is “morally superior.”
- That anyone is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive.”
- Someone is responsible for actions committed in the past by members of their race.
- That “such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist.”
“Florida was correct to bar CRT [Critical Race Theory] and DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion]. We also have a right to do so. We’ve seen so many institutions get corrupted by ideology, and universities have been perhaps the most common. The Constitution does not block us from fighting back against these ideological fads and from ensuring that our institutions stand on a solid intellectual foundation. This is a clear and unfortunate example of judicial overreach,” DeSantis concluded in his social media remark.
Tuesday, Attorney General James Uthmeier sang praises for Lagoa.
–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
Deborah Coffey says
Poor Fascist baby couldn’t control the court. It’s his very ideology that is corrupted. And, DeSantis will never be President of the United States. In fact, anyone watching all that he’s destroyed in Florida will know that his political career is over.
Joe D says
Dare we HOPE…that NATIONAL VOTERS would look beyond the surface handsomeness, the military career, the PERFECT “Kennedy” looking beautiful wife and kids, his legal career, and see the CHAOS he and his MAGA MINIONS (in my opinion) have inflicted on Florida families and retirees ( not counting his backhanded attempts to “lower costs”….otherwise called SHIFT THE COSTS of local government services, in the proposed HOMESTEAD tax rollback referendum).
Luckily, DeSantis ( in my opinion) does not have the TRUMP MAGA CHARISMA, needed to garner enough votes from outside his Florida world of influence, to charm his way into a WHITE HOUSE BID.
If he DID make it that far, his lawyer background would (again in my opinion), make him even MORE DANGEROUS than our current president. DeSantis is SMARTER and better educated than TRUMP. He’s not as GRANDIOSE, he’s more behind the scenes UNDERHANDED and MANIPULATIVE than TRUMP. Hard as it is to imagine that.
And DEBORAH…remember he CONNED Florida MAGA voters twice, even when they saw what he did to their state during his FIRST TERM. So never ASSUME that National MAGA voters will pay any more attention to finding the “TRUTH” under the surface HYPE…any more than they did TWICE with TRUMP?!?
Deborah Coffey says
Thank you for enhancing my comment with facts. But, another fact: There aren’t enough MAGA voters left in the United States to elect a president. DeSantis is finished. That’s not to say another lying MAGA type con artist couldn’t change some minds….
Joe D says
Deborah…
I truly hope you are right…the US Constitution, Democracy and the rule of law, are BARELY hanging on by a thread after only 18 months of MAGA free range “RULE,”…we still have to grit our teeth for 2 1/2 more years of TRUMP MANIA…HOPEFULLY moderated by Mid-term election results.
I’m not sure enough MAGA voters are yet waking up to the reality that they were, and are continuing to be LIED TO…on almost a DAILY BASIS!
I too BLINDLY trusted that the “GOVERNMENT” was legally keeping watch over us and the laws…up until my high school days and the discovery that the WATERGATE HOTEL Democratic Party Election headquarters was broken into by REPUBLICAN paid operatives…which resulted in President Nixon’s involvement in the COVERUP afterwards, the FLIMSY excuse of the poor (scapegoat) Secretary (Rosemary Woods???) who “admitted” she “accidentally” ERASED the EXACT White House 20 minutes of phone tapes supposedly incriminating President Nixon of being involved in the COVERUP afterwards.
WHAT?!? A PRESIDENT LIE to the AMERICAN PEOPLE?!?…who could imagine such a thing back then!…Until he resigned in his INFAMOUS “I am not a CROOK,” resignation speech… and his IMMEDIATE PARDON by his Vice President (then President).
It forever changed the view of TRUST in government… and even being over 70 years old now, I remember the sense of BETRAYAL I felt as a 17 year old at the time, as if it were YESTERDAY!
Little did I know we would get to a much WORSE point in Government TRUST in 2025
Deborah Coffey says
I’m in complete agreement with you on everything, Joe D, and I remember Watergate very well. Donald Trump has historically registered some of the lowest average approval scores since modern polling began, dropping as low as 30% in some national surveys. (AI) I do believe MAGA is dwindling and we know he’s lost young voters, Independents, and Hispanics. I hope I’m right, too, because our country is sitting on the razor’s edge between democracy and dictatorship.
Pogo says
Which is which?
Both sides of a coin
https://www.google.com/search?q=intersection+of+dei+and+original+sin
“Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before.”
― Mae West
https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/259666.Mae_West
More is better
https://www.google.com/search?q=mae+west
EC: File
Koyote says
“We’ve seen so many institutions get corrupted by ideology, and universities have been perhaps the most common.”
Translation : They didn’t agree to and bow the knee to us.