A federal appeals court upheld a decision blocking Florida’s Stop WOKE Act from being enforced at public colleges and universities, rejecting arguments that classroom speech can be treated as government speech simply because professors are state employees. In a 2-1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Judge Britt C. Grant wrote that requiring faculty to advance an official government position imposes the “pall of orthodoxy” protected against by the First Amendment. The ruling leaves the injunction in place, preventing the law from taking effect at Florida’s 40 public colleges and universities. Florida had argued that the state could suppress certain discussions of race, sex, and identity; opponents said the statute chills academic speech and threatens faculty discipline for controversial teaching. Separate but related litigation also shows Florida continues to face pressure on accreditation and federal oversight, further complicating state efforts to reshape higher education governance.