Florida asserts instruction at state universities not covered by First Amendment [pdf]

Spoilers: It’s a “culture war” lawsuit about critical race theory. Probably won’t go anywhere. Here’s a quote

> Plaintiffs’ First Amendment challenge fails because the Florida Government has simply chosen to regulate its own speech - the curriculum used in state universities and the in-class instruction offered by state employees.

This is not something new. Lots of courts have held up that the government, incl schools, are able to regulate themselves. The only interesting part of the lawsuit is that the plaintiffs are indirectly claiming that a ban on CRT sort of violates anti-discrimination laws (because its so aggressive in scope and vague that it trips up existing laws) and adversely affects student learning.

Assuming this is about free speech, I suspect that free speech is maintained by the instructors, but they can’t use it as a defense for saying the “wrong things” while on the clock. One could argue that what Florida wants them to teach is BS, but that’s a different argument.

This situation would be the same for any employer, e.g. if one works for Meta but insists on posting disparaging remarks about FB on Twitter, one will probably not last long at Meta. But one would still have freedom of speech.