Today, on behalf of Honeyfund, Primo Tampa, Chevara Orrin and Collective Concepts, Protect Democracy and its partner firm Ropes & Gray filed two briefs in our ongoing lawsuit challenging Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act.” The first is a reply brief in support of plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, underscoring that the law’s restriction on mandatory employer training about diversity, equity, and inclusion involving “speech that the State finds repugnant” is indeed a speech restriction that violates the First Amendment. The second is a brief in opposition to defendants’ motion to dismiss, arguing that Governor DeSantis, who conceived of the Stop WOKE Act and announced his intention to retaliate against “woke corporations,” is a proper defendant in the case. Both briefs make clear that the Act is an unconstitutional effort by Florida officials to ban speech with which they disagree – a move right out of the authoritarian playbook that is incompatible with a thriving democracy. Further, the Act is unconstitutionally vague, because it is virtually impossible for employers to know what exactly it bans. For more about the case, click here.

A hearing on our clients’ motion for a preliminary injunction is scheduled for August 8, 2022, in Tallahassee before the Honorable Judge Mark E. Walker, Chief U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.