al.com · Williesha Morris | wmorris@al.com · September 8, 2026
Alabama’s anti-DEI law in crosshairs: How Florida case could pave the way for dismantling it - al.com [Skip to Article](#main) Set weather Back To Main Menu Close Set Weather Location Enter zip code or city and state Set Location [ The al.com logo ](https://www.al.com) Subscribe Sign in Close # Alabama’s anti-DEI law in crosshairs: How Florida case could pave the way for dismantling it * Published: Sep. 08, 2026, 6:00 a.m. * * * * * * * Set as Google Preferred Source By * [Williesha Morris | wmorris@al.com](https://www.al.com/staff/WilliM/) Two years after Alabama passed an anti-DEI law that bans the teaching of “divisive concepts,” the legal battle to dismantle it continues. And a federal court’s decision to strike down part of a similar law in Florida could foreshadow what’s to come in Alabama. ACLU senior staff attorney Leah Watson represented professors and students who sued to strike down Florida’s law., She told AL.com her clients’ win could have an impact on[ Alabama’s law, also known as SB 129](https://www.al.com/news/2025/12/college-students-professors-appeal-to-end-alabama-anti-dei-law.html). “SB 129 similarly limits instruction on race and gender in the same ways that the Florida Stop W.O.K.E. Act limited instruction on race and gender,” Watson said. “The analysis of the 11th Circuit would apply to similar claims on other state laws within its jurisdiction.” Robert Kim, the executive director of the Education Legal Center, said an ongoing lawsuit against Alabama’s anti-DEI law “substantially overlaps” with the ruling that struck down Florida’s Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act. He said each law “really violates the First Amendment’s commitment to open dialogue, academic freedom and that we can’t have a society in which our universities are essentially treated as synonymous with the government itself and stifle free and open inquiry.” The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals[ in July struck down](https://www.highereddive.com/news/floridas-stop-woke-act-struck-down-for-colleges-on-appeal/824643/) the higher education section of Florida’s law, which restricted college instruction on race and gender. The appeals court, wrote that the Stop WOKE Act’s “salary-for-speech rule is 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 ever getting closer to the truth.” The ruling was “vindicating” for tAntonio Ingram II, the attorney representing a group of Alabama professors and students who are suing to overturn the state’s anti-DEI law. “Professors do have the First Amendment right to teach about Black history and to teach about inclusive populations that are not based on the state’s preferred worldview,” said Ingram, senior counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He added that, in America, professors “have academic freedom to talk about marginalized communities without fear of reprisal.” The court’s decision in Florida concludes that just because the government pays a professor’s salary doesn’t mean they have full control over what the professor teaches. Federal judges have chipped away at the Stop WOKE Act, which initially banned DEI in the workplace and public schools. Federal judges determined in[ August 2022](https://apnews.com/article/education-lawsuits-florida-discrimination-16ffd7a0abd852edf611b6876f637ca6) and[ July 2024](https://apnews.com/article/stop-woke-florida-race-unconstitutional-fcf6c1678bb90709f5941f89d0c193af) that the law violated workers’ First Amendment Rights. The law still prohibits DEI in K-12 public education. Ingram hopes the 11th Circuit will make a decision on a trial hearing this year. Since 2023,[ 34 anti-DEI bills](https://www.chronicle.com/article/here-are-the-states-where-lawmakers-are-seeking-to-ban-colleges-dei-efforts) have become law in the United States, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. ## Stories by [Williesha Morris](https://www.al.com/staff/WilliM/) * [State library board member targets transgender books already shelved as adult titles](https://www.al.com/news/2026/09/state-library-board-member-targets-transgender-books-already-shelved-as-adult-titles.html) * [AL.com columnists named finalists for Online Journalism Awards](https://www.al.com/news/2026/08/alcom-columnists-named-finalists-for-online-journalism-awards.html) * [Residents voice alarm over surveillance cameras and data centers in Tuscaloosa County](https://www.al.com/news/2026/08/residents-voice-alarm-over-surveillance-cameras-and-data-centers-in-tuscaloosa-county.html) * [Alabama students appeal suspension of magazines about women and Black culture](https://www.al.com/news/2026/08/alabama-students-appeal-suspension-of-magazines-about-women-and-black-culture.html) * [University of Alabama board approves tenure and curriculum review ](https://www.al.com/news/2026/08/university-of-alabama-board-approves-tenure-and-curriculum-review.html) [](https://www.al.com/staff/WilliM/)[ Williesha Morris ](https://www.al.com/staff/WilliM/) Morris is an award-winning journalist whose experience goes back 30 years. She's delighted to be covering libraries and higher education. She's also covered video games, accessibility and pop culture as a... more [ wmorris@al.com](mailto:wmorris@al.com) [](https://www.linkedin.com/in/williesha-morris/) [](https://bsky.app/profile/williesha.bsky.social) [](https://www.threads.com/@morriswilli14) ## Comments Please take a moment to review our [community guidelines](https://www.al.com/communityrules/). 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