Nov. 17 (UPI) — A federal judge in Florida heavily referenced George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 as he struck down parts of a law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in April, which targets such cultural issues as the teaching of critical race theory at public universities.
The law, officially named the Individual Freedom Act, is based on a previous legislative proposal announced by DeSantis last year and called the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act,” also known as the Stop WOKE Act.
DeSantis had championed the law as a means of fighting back against “woke indoctrination,” using a slang word used by conservatives to dismiss social policy efforts by liberals.
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker on Thursday specifically struck down parts of the law that prohibited college employees from teaching eight topics related to race and accused Florida of “doublespeak,” a reference to 1984, court documents show.
“‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,’ and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom,'” Walker wrote, further citing from the novel.
“The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints.”
Walker ruled that the speech of professors in the classroom is protected by the First Amendment and that provisions in the law were vague as he compared Florida to the novel’s Ministry of Truth, which is in charge of propaganda in the book.
“The State has responded to fears of ‘woke indoctrination’ in university classrooms. But rather than combat ‘woke’ ideas with countervailing views in the ‘marketplace of ideas,’ the State has chosen to eliminate one side of the debate,” Walker wrote.
Walker also referenced Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in the notes of his decision, writing that, “although we may have recently celebrated Halloween, that is no excuse to stitch together a new legal test resembling Frankenstein’s monster.”
The ruling was praised by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Legal Defense Fund and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“The First Amendment protects our right to learn, and that includes learning about issues related to race and gender,” the ACLU said in a statement.
“Left unchecked, the Stop WOKE Act would have a chilling effect on freedom of expression in higher education. This unconstitutional and discriminatory law keeps students and educators from discussing issues around racism and sexism that Florida lawmakers disagree with.”
