For Republicans who dominate the state, a slew of court decisions went against them this week.

Federal appeals panels rejected the position of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration on a pair of key issues, while a Leon County circuit judge ruled against an incumbent GOP House member looking to get on the ballot, a ruling that could flip a Central Florida House seat.

RESTRICTING ‘ANTI-WOKE’ RESTRICTIONS

Keeping in place a district court’s preliminary injunction, a 2-1 decision Tuesday from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the state law restricting how state college and university professors can teach about race and gender violates the First Amendment.

The majority declared the law “a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the state’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry.”

“If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it,” wrote Judge Britt Grant, an appointee of President Donald Trump.

Grant was joined by Judge Charles Wilson, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

Judge Barbara Lagoa, a Trump appointee who had previously been appointed to the Florida Supreme Court by DeSantis, argued in dissent the state had the right to restrict the speech of professors in the classroom.

“To be clear, the First Amendment protects all viewpoints in the public square, whether they are conventional or controversial. But it does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement,” Lagoa wrote.

The case was brought by a set of university professors and backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida.

“We are thrilled the court has stopped the erasure of topics that have real implications for our students, allowing them to learn, discuss, and develop tools for combatting the complex issue of racism in our country without being gagged by those who would dictate that only state-approved thought may be promoted,” LeRoy Pernell, a Florida A&M University College of Law professor, and one of the instructors who brought the lawsuit, stated in a release.

The ruling prevents Florida from enforcing part of the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act” passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022.

DeSantis pushed for the law as a bulwark against “indoctrination” in university classrooms. It bars professors from endorsing precepts of critical race theory, including eight specific tenets.

APPROVING ACCREDITATION

A separate three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday unanimously rejected Florida’s push to throw out federal rules for accreditation agencies for public universities.

The decision upheld a 2024 lower court ruling that found the federal accreditation structure to be constitutional.

“The accreditation requirement is neither a delegation of government power nor an unascertainable condition,” Judge Andrew Brasher wrote in the ruling.

Brasher, an appointee of President Donald Trump, was joined in the decision by Judge William Pryor, an appointee of President George W. Bush, and Judge Nancy Abudu, who was appointed by President Joe Biden.

DeSantis’ administration brought the lawsuit in 2023, arguing Congress had unconstitutionally delegated unchecked authority to private accreditation agencies.

“We reject the idea that a totally unaccountable, unappointed, unelected accrediting agency can trump what the state of Florida is doing,” DeSantis said at the time.

DeSantis has pushed to get Florida’s public universities out from the accrediting eye of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACS.

In 2025 DeSantis announced Florida would set up a new accrediting body, in collaboration with other states, to review universities to ensure their quality.

Among his critiques of SACS, DeSantis alleges it insisted on incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools. He’s also alleged that accrediting agencies aren’t accountable to the government.

A POSSIBLE FLIP

Rep. Paula Stark’s move to be placed on the ballot to retain her House District 47 seat was rejected by a Leon County court Wednesday.

The St. Cloud Republican’s application to qualify for the ballot was rejected for the lack of a financial disclosure form, which her campaign treasurer, Joel Davis, said was submitted to Division of Election officials before the noon June 12 deadline.

Second Judicial Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes instead accepted the testimony of five state Division of Elections officials working in the hour before the deadline that if they had received the paperwork, it would have been stamped.

“They all testified consistently that after 11:30 (a.m.), the clerks no longer performed any check of the papers,” Hawkes wrote. “Instead, they just received, stamped, and later, if time allowed, handed copies of the stamped forms back as courtesy copies.  The streamlined, no-review, process was to ensure those that wanted to qualify could before the noon deadline.”

Hawkes gave Stark seven days to file evidence showing why her petition shouldn’t be dismissed, but otherwise his order leaves her off the ballot for the district that is mostly in Osceola County and includes a sliver of Orange County.

Democrats Jorge Figueroa of Kissimmee and Anthony Nieves of St. Cloud were the only candidates to qualify for the contest when the filer period ended on June 12. If Stark is unable to get on the ballot — mail ballots have already started to be distributed — the Aug. 18 primary would be open to all voters of the district.

STORY OF THE WEEK:

A federal appeals court ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE Act” restrictions on state university and college instruction violate the First Amendment.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“This was not on my bingo card.” — State Rep. Dotie Joseph acknowledging her late entry into the Democratic gubernatorial primary was spurred by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings dropping out for health reasons on the eve of the qualifying period.