And another:
whdh.com
New York (CNN) " "To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it's the First Amendment, stupid."
That's what a federal judge wrote Thursday as he sided with local TV stations in an extraordinary dispute over a pro-abortion rights television ad.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker of the Northern District of Florida granted a temporary restraining order against Florida's surgeon general after the state health department threatened to bring criminal charges against broadcasters airing the ad.
The controversy stems from a campaign ad by the group Floridians Protecting Freedom, which is behind the "Yes on 4 Campaign," promoting a ballot measure that seeks to overturn Florida's six-week abortion ban by enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.
In the 30-second ad, a brain cancer survivor named Caroline says the state law would have prevented her from receiving a life-saving abortion.
"The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom," she says on camera. "Florida has now banned abortions, even in cases like mine."
The state health department " part of Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration, which has aggressively campaigned against the pro-abortion amendment " said the ad's claims are "false" and "dangerous" to the public health.
John Wilson, the health department's general counsel, sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple television stations airing the ad. Floridians Protecting Freedom then filed a lawsuit against Wilson and the state's surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, saying the threats amounted to "unconstitutional coercion and viewpoint discrimination" and pressed the court to bar the state from following up on threats to sue.
On Thursday, the judge agreed the health department's threats were "viewpoint discrimination" and wrote that the group presented "a substantial likelihood of proving an ongoing violation of its First Amendment rights through the threatened direct penalization of its political speech."
And more:
www.thefire.org
The Florida legislature has once again chosen to limit its citizens' free speech rights " this time by passing House Bill 3, which severely restricts Floridians' access to websites and content on the internet.
and yet another example:
www.theguardian.com
In a scathing ruling released late on Monday, a three-judge panel of the 11th circuit appeals court in Atlanta blasted DeSantis's 2022 Stop Woke Act " which banned employers from providing mandatory workplace diversity training, or from teaching that any person is inherently racist or sexist " as "the greatest first amendment sin".
The judges upheld a lower court's ruling that the law violated employers' constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression. They were also critical of DeSantis for "exceeding the bounds" of the US constitution by imposing political ideology through legislation.
And we haven't even started on DeSantis punishing Disney because they are pro gay and he isn't.