13 States Urge Supreme Court to Revive Florida's Stop WOKE Act

Attorneys general from 13 states are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Florida’s Stop WOKE Act and let the state limit what public university professors can promote about race and sex in the classroom, according to a friend-of-the-court brief filed Monday and reporting by Inside Higher Ed and Alabama Political Reporter.

The brief, filed in Florida Board of Governors v. Pernell, was co-led by Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Kentucky’s Russell Coleman, according to Alabama Political Reporter and the Jewish News Syndicate. It supports Florida’s petition asking the justices to review a July ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that blocked the law’s higher-education provisions, Inside Higher Ed reported.

13 AGs Ask Supreme Court to Uphold Florida’s Stop WOKE Act https://t.co/3ZQjgWkNvy pic.twitter.com/pdNY9KyGb6

— Inside Higher Ed (@insidehighered) November 12, 2026

What the law does

Florida’s Individual Freedom Act, known as the Stop WOKE Act, was passed in 2022 and was quickly blocked by a lower court, according to Inside Higher Ed. Alabama Political Reporter said the law allows educators to discuss listed race-based concepts as part of instruction but bars them from promoting those concepts or requiring students to believe them.

In July, a divided 11th Circuit panel concluded the law likely violates the First Amendment, according to Alabama Political Reporter. In his petition, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier asked the court to decide “whether public university professors have a special status under the First Amendment, such that the speech they express in the course of their official duties, unlike the official-duty speech of all other public employees, is protected by the First Amendment from regulation by their employer, the state,” Inside Higher Ed reported.

The states’ argument

The coalition asks the justices to clarify Garcetti v. Ceballos, the 2006 decision holding that the First Amendment does not protect public employees’ speech made as part of their official duties, according to Inside Higher Ed. The states argue professors should be held to the same standard as other public workers, the outlet reported.

“Citizens—speaking as citizens—have First Amendment rights, and they do not lose those rights by setting foot on campus,” the brief states, according to Alabama Political Reporter. “But university professors are also public employees, paid by a State to teach specific classes in specific ways.”

“Academic freedom is a vital principle, but not a trump card. No public employee, whether a professor, teacher, or a clerk, get a bigger share of the First Amendment than anyone else,” Marshall said in a written statement quoted by Alabama Political Reporter. “In Alabama, we protect students from DEI indoctrination, and we will defend that principle all the way to the Supreme Court.”

The attorneys general also pointed to the University of Kentucky’s investigation of a law professor over remarks about Israel, according to the Jewish News Syndicate, which reported that the professor has said his speech is constitutionally protected and not antisemitic.

Critics warn of broad impact

Not everyone agrees. If the high court takes the case, the petition “has the potential to do enormous damage to public universities,” Yale Law School professor Robert Post told Inside Higher Ed in an email. The outlet reported that a ruling could affect lawsuits the American Association of University Professors has brought against the Texas A&M and Texas State university systems over course-content restrictions.

Alabama Political Reporter noted that the case could also shape the future of Alabama’s own anti-DEI law. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether it will hear Florida’s appeal, according to Alabama Political Reporter and the Jewish News Syndicate.

Sources

• Inside Higher Ed
• Alabama Political Reporter
• Jewish News Syndicate
• Inside Higher Ed on X

Reporting by Daily Beltway.