Case 4:22-cv-00324-MW-MAF Document 44 Filed 11/17/22 Page 116 of 139
which note their research and teaching challenges the notion of “objectivity.” Defendants assert the law is not vague because these professors “obviously must have some understanding of what ‘the notion of objectivity’ is in the first place.” ECF No. 52 at 35, in Case No.: 4:22cv304-MW/MAF. But this is another red herring. Simply because some of the Pernell Plaintiffs challenge the “ideal” of “objectivity” with respect to their areas of study, ECF No. 13-4 ¶ 29, or situate their approach to research and teaching through a “positionality” lens as opposed to an “objectivity” lens, ECF No. 13-5 ¶ 17, does not make the IFA any less vague when it comes to how section 1000.05(4)(b) and its implementing regulation will be applied to future instruction or training.
Indeed, Defendants’ decision to avoid referencing any respected lexicon is unsurprising given that Defendants’ preferred construction of “objectivity” ignores any plain meaning of the term and fails to square with any commonsense understanding. Indeed, in Honeyfund, counsel for Defendants—who, as mentioned above, are the same lawyers now representing Defendants in the cases at issue here—relied upon the Merriam-Webster Dictionary to define “objective,” noting that “ ‘to discuss a concept in an objective manner’ is, obviously, to discuss it by ‘expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudice or interpretation.’ ” Honeyfund, 2022 WL 3486962, at *14. But now, defense counsel ignores Merriam-Webster and doubles down on the
116
