{"id":5789,"date":"2025-05-14T14:25:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T14:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/state-cant-enforce-law-appeals-court-rules\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T14:25:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T14:25:27","slug":"state-cant-enforce-law-appeals-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/state-cant-enforce-law-appeals-court-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"State Can’t Enforce Law, Appeals Court Rules"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tA<\/span> federal appeals court has kept in place an injunction blocking Florida from enforcing a law that would restrict drag shows in the state, saying the statute likely interferes with First Amendment-protected free speech. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a lengthy opinion released Tuesday (May 13), two out of three judges on a panel for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court injunction that bars Florida from enforcing its so-called Protection of Children Act. The statute aimed to prohibit children from attending \u201clewd\u201d live performances at restaurants and bars, with Governor Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers singling out drag shows in public statements on the law.<\/p>\n

\n\tA Florida federal judge sided with restaurant chain Hamburger Mary\u2019s in 2023, finding that the law is overly broad and thus tramples on free speech. And in Tuesday\u2019s ruling, two appellate judges \u2014 Robin S. Rosenbaum and Nancy G. Abudu \u2014 agreed.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBy providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,\u201d wrote Judge Rosenbaum for the majority.<\/p>\n

\n\tTuesday\u2019s ruling means the 2023 injunction will remain in effect for now, and Florida cannot enforce this law while the Hamburger Mary\u2019s lawsuit continues. Discovery has concluded in the case, though a trial date has not been set.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cObviously, we\u2019re thrilled that the injunction is going to remain in place for the duration of this litigation,\u201d Melissa Stewart<\/strong>, an attorney for Hamburger Mary\u2019s, tells Billboard<\/em>. \u201cThat means that the citizens of Florida will have their First Amendment rights while we finish litigating this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresentatives for the state of Florida did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst Amendment law allows governments to restrict \u201cobscene\u201d speech, but only when that speech encompasses \u201cpatently offensive\u201d sexual material that appeals to a \u201cprurient interest\u201d and lacks serious artistic or political value.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Eleventh Circuit majority says that because the Florida law targets an undefined mass of \u201clewd\u201d shows, it could be used to squash all kinds of constitutionally-protected speech that does not meet the strict \u201cobscenity\u201d standard.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opinion notes, for example, that a Florida enforcement agency previously revoked one venue\u2019s liquor license after deeming \u201clewd\u201d a performance in which a drag artist known as \u201cJimbo\u201d mimicked giving birth to a pile of baloney.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe majority says that while Jimbo\u2019s performance is a \u201cbit odd (and hammy in every sense of the word),\u201d it \u201ccannot be deemed \u2018obscene.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne of the act\u2019s sponsors\u2019 stated intent to target \u2018Drag Queen Story Time\u2019 also helps show the potential breadth of a term like \u2018lewd conduct,\u2019\u201d Judge Rosenbaum wrote. \u201cOf course, one legislator\u2019s interpretation of the act does not an authoritative construction make. But it does betray how much protected speech may fall within the act\u2019s [scope].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the Eleventh Circuit disagreed, writing in a dissent that the majority opinion is wrong because it \u201creads the statute in the broadest possible way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tEven if Florida\u2019s statute is unclear, Judge Tjoflat continued, the proper remedy would be to ask the Florida Supreme Court to step in and offer an analysis rather than block enforcement completely.<\/p>\n

\n\tFlorida is among a number of red states that have enacted legislation restricting drag performances in recent years. A similar Tennessee law was also blocked by a judge in 2023, though the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it a year later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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