Britt Grant
ON THE RECORD · 10 verbatim quotes · every quote source-verified
“breathtaking assertion of power”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
A federal appeals court struck down parts of Florida's Stop WOKE Act, with the majority opinion author using this phrase to describe the state's asserted power over classroom speech.
“If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it.”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant concluded in the majority opinion that Florida's Stop WOKE Act violates the First Amendment's protections for public university classrooms.
“The State asks us to consider its rules a means of targeting discrimination. But hearing an idea you disagree with is not discrimination; it is an opportunity to come up with a better idea, or maybe even change your mind.”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant continued her majority opinion arguing that exposure to disagreeable ideas is not discrimination but an opportunity for intellectual growth.
“a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry — classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant rejected the state's argument, calling the claimed power to ban unpopular ideas from public university classrooms breathtaking.
“if the government pays a professor’s salary, it has total control over her classroom speech.”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant characterized the state's justification for the law as the assertion that paying a professor's salary gives the government total control over classroom speech.
“Florida seeks to strip public university professors—and by extension their students—of the ability to fully engage with ideas that are, for better or for worse, very popular in some academic circles,”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant, a Trump appointee and author of the majority opinion, wrote this in striking down parts of Florida's Stop WOKE Act as unconstitutional censorship of university professors.
“bars Florida’s educators from promoting or endorsing those disfavored ideas when instructing students.”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
In the majority opinion, Grant wrote that Florida's law imposed broad speech restrictions on educators that violate the First Amendment.
“We do so again here.”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant concluded her rejection of the state's justification by stating the court rejects Florida's views again in this case.
“This is not the first time that the State has tried to lead us down the garden path about the purpose and effect of a law banning speech,”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant noted that the court had previously rejected Florida's attempts to justify laws banning speech and said it would do so again.
“long been clear that teaching and scholarship are due some measure of protection under the Amendment,”
Britt Grant · said 2026-07-07 · reported 2026-07-07
Grant cited U.S. Supreme Court precedent holding that teaching and scholarship receive constitutional protection.