The culture wars have their day in court: Where DeSantis has won and lost

The DeSantis administration has been engaged in legal battles over more than a dozen policies and administrative actions linked to the Florida governor’s “culture wars.”

So far, he’s lost more than he’s won. But a number of cases are still ongoing.

Here’s a rundown of the litigation, and where things stand:

WINS

Vaccine requirements: After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed new safety rules for cruise companies operating in Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic, the DeSantis administration filed suit in federal court to block them. By June of 2021, DeSantis prevailed as a judge ruled that the rules would have to be lifted in July.

Mask mandates: After a Leon County judge’s ruling that said the state could not enforce a ban on strict mask mandates in schools, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal reversed the decision, giving the DeSantis administration a clear win. The U.S. Department of Education subsequently dropped a cease-and-desist complaint against the state when school districts dropped their mask mandates.

READ MORE: Here are the top law firms paid to defend DeSantis’ culture war policies

LOSSES

Healthcare workers: The DeSantis administration, working with Attorney General Ashley Moody, challenged a Biden administration COVID-19 vaccination requirement for healthcare workers. In January 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the vaccine requirements were lawful, forcing the state to drop its legal challenge to the CDC rule.

Election law: In a 288-page ruling, Federal District Court Judge Mark Walker delivered a stinging takedown of the law that placed restrictions on mail-in voting drop boxes and voter registration efforts by independent groups. Walker concluded that Florida has engaged in intentional discrimination and that DeSantis and legislators ignored evidence that the voting law would disproportionately hurt minorities in an attempt to blunt Democratic turnout and Black voter representation. The governor won a quick reprieve however, as the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal in Atlanta reversed the injunction, including Walker’s ruling that all future voting restrictions get federal court approval. But the challenge is still pending.

Stop W.O.K.E. (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act: In November, Walker temporarily halted the enforcement of the act that prohibits public schools and universities from promoting eight specific concepts related to race. The ACLU, the Legal Defense Fund and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sought a preliminary injunction arguing that it violates the First Amendment rights of college professors by imposing restrictions on disfavored viewpoints. DeSantis said the law was needed to take “a stand against the state-sanctioned racism that is critical race theory”— a reference to instruction that describe racial prejudice as a structural feature of American law. His lawyers argued that the state can dictate what will and won’t be taught in college classrooms. Quoting George Orwell, Walker called that thinking “positively dystopian.”

Social media: A 2021 law that sought to bar social-media companies such as Facebook and Twitter from removing political candidates from the companies’ platforms and require them to publish standards about issues such as blocking users was first blocked by U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle and the ruling was upheld by a three-judge appellate panel. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law unconstitutionally restricts the companies’ First Amendment rights.

Anti-riot law: After demonstrators across Florida and the nation protested the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, DeSantis and state lawmakers passed a wide-ranging law that enhanced criminal penalties for crimes committed during protests that turn violent, or a “riot.” In September 2021, Walker blocked the state from enforcing a key portion of the law, in part, because it “encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” He said the definition of what constitutes a riot under the law was too vague “to the point of unconstitutionality.”

READ MORE: DeSantis’ culture wars grabbed headlines — and legal challenges that cost $17 million

PENDING TRIAL COURT RULING

Andrew Warren: The Hillsborough state attorney whom DeSantis suspended from office sued to get his job back. Federal district court Judge Hinkle held a three-day trial earlier this month. It featured the governor’s “public safety czar” testifying he prodded the governor to make the move and Warren’s chief of staff testifying he warned his boss not to sign a statement suggesting he would not enforce abortion restrictions. Warren argued that DeSantis removed him from office because he is a Democrat and an advocate of social justice law enforcement that attempts to work with minority communities instead of trying to target them.

Migrant flights: Three lawsuits are pending against the state, alleging the state violated federal and state constitutional law and another alleging violations of the state’s public records act over the DeSantis administration’s decision to relocate asylum seekers from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. A Leon County circuit judge in November dismissed a lawsuit filed by Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Miami Democrat, challenging the use of state funds for the project, but Pizzo has revised the complaint and refiled the lawsuit so that it can move forward. A class action lawsuit is also pending in federal court in Massachusetts against DeSantis, Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue and people who helped recruit the immigrants in Texas.

Transgender sports act: In February, the DeSantis administration agreed to put on hold a challenge by the Broward County School Board and the Florida High School Athletic Association to the “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act,” which bans transgender girls from participating in girls’ and women’s school sports. The lawsuit contends that the ban, passed by lawmakers last year, is unconstitutional and violates a federal law known as Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs. The judge said the case will remain on hold until the 11th U.S. Circuit of Appeals rules in a case filed by a transgender male student who was prevented from using boys’ bathrooms at a St. Johns County high school.

Intellectual freedom: In January, Judge Walker will hear another case challenging the constitutionality of a Florida law that requires state college and university campuses to conduct an annual “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” survey of employees and students. The plaintiffs, who are both faculty and students in Florida colleges and universities, argue that the measure “impermissibly chills free expression and promotes unconstitutional censorship on the state’s college campuses.”

Congressional redistricting: A group of plaintiffs backed by former Attorney General Eric Holder have sued the state for enacting a map that diminishes the ability of Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice in violation of the Fair Districts amendment to the Florida Constitution. The lawsuit, brought by Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Equal Ground Education Fund, League of Women Voters of Florida, League of Women Voters of Florida Education Fund and Florida Rising Together, is pending in the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County. Efforts to put the map on hold were rejected by the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee, which ruled that any challenge would need a full trial before a judgment could be rendered.

Parental Rights in Education Act: Called the “don’t say gay” bill by opponents, the measure prevents teachers from instructing kindergarten through third-grade students in gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade and requires that such instruction be “age-appropriate.” U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in September dismissed the first version of the lawsuit and plaintiffs have filed a revised version, alleging it violates constitutional due-process, equal-protection and First Amendment rights, along with a federal law known as Title IX, which bars sex-based discrimination in education programs.

Abortion: The Florida Legislature’s passage of a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest and signed into law by DeSantis in April is facing two lawsuits pending in Leon County Circuit Court. In one, a South Florida Jewish congregation contends the measure violates privacy and religious-freedom rights. The second lawsuit, filed by abortion clinics, challenges the constitutionality of the restriction. Both cases also allege that the ban violates a privacy right in the Florida Constitution that has long played a pivotal role in abortion cases in the state.

Ban on Medicaid used for transgender care: Four transgender Floridians filed a lawsuit in federal court in September challenging the Agency for Health Care Administration and its rule excluding coverage of gender-affirming care is discriminatory and illegal. They allege that the rule deprives the two children and two adult plaintiffs of healthcare deemed necessary by their doctors.

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@miamiherald.com and @MaryEllenKlas