Case 4:22-cv-00324-MW-MAF Document 44 Filed 11/17/22 Page 135 of 139
falling into error in search for truth, will shun such a life of futile lubricity, as the free woman avoids the harem.”[1]
Striking at the heart of “open-mindedness and critical inquiry,” the State of Florida has taken over the “marketplace of ideas” to suppress disfavored viewpoints and limit where professors may shine their light on eight specific ideas. And Defendants’ argument permits zero restraint on the State of Florida’s power to expand its limitation on viewpoints to any idea it chooses.
One thing is crystal clear—both robust intellectual inquiry and democracy require light to thrive. Our professors are critical to a healthy democracy,[2] and the State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all. If our “priests of democracy” are not allowed to shed light on challenging ideas, then democracy will die in darkness.[3] But the First Amendment does not permit the State of Florida to muzzle its university professors, impose its own orthodoxy of viewpoints, and cast us all into the dark.
Accordingly,
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ See Austin, 580 F. Supp. 3d at 1175.
- ↑ See Paul Farhi, The Washington Post’s New Slogan Turns Out to Be an Old Saying, The Washington Post, Feb. 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-washington-posts-new-slogan-turns-out-to-be-an-old-saying/2017/02/23/cb199cda-fa02-11e6-be05-1a3817ac21a5_story.html.
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