Atlanta, Georgia - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suffered a defeat on Monday after a federal appeals court struck down key provisions of his signature 2022 Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act.

Florida Republicans' restrictions on addressing race-related issues in workplace training violate basic First Amendment rights, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

"This is not the first era in which Americans have held widely divergent views on important areas of morality, ethics, law and public policy," the 22-page opinion states. "And it is not the first time that these disagreements have seemed so important, and their airing so dangerous, that something had to be done. But now, as before, the First Amendment keeps the government from putting its thumb on the scale."

"By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content. And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints – the greatest First Amendment sin."

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The decision upheld an August 2022 preliminary injunction issued by US District Judge Mark Walker.

Advocates and legal representatives have celebrated the federal appeals court's decision as a win for free speech in the workplace.

"Speech codes have no place in American society, and elected officials have no business censoring the speech of business owners simply because they don’t agree with what’s being expressed," Shalini Goel Agarwal, Protect Democracy counsel, said in a statement.

The Stop WOKE Act – signed into law by DeSantis in April 2022 – outlined rightwing measures designed to limit how schools and businesses address race, gender, and sexual orientation.

"Barring employers from engaging in speech that powerful politicians don’t like is a move straight out of the authoritarian playbook," Agarwal said. "Today is a good day for the First Amendment and the ability of American businesses to speak freely."