JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge blocked portions of Mississippi’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion practices in public schools from being enforced while a lawsuit against it is underway.
The provisions blocked by U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate on Monday seek to prohibit public schools from discussing a list of “divisive concepts” related to race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation and national origin. They would also prevent public schools from maintaining programs, courses or offices that promote DEI or endorse “divisive concepts” and ban diversity training requirements.
The law, which took effect in April, aims to prevent public schools from “engaging in discriminatory practices” by banning DEI offices, trainings and programs. Any school in violation of the act could lose state funding.
A group of teachers, parents and students is suing the state, alleging the law violates their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Wingate’s ruling follows a temporary restraining order he granted to the plaintiffs in July.
At an Aug. 5 hearing, lawyers representing the plaintiffs argued that the law is too confusing, leaving parents, teachers and students wondering what they can and cannot say and whether they could face consequences as a result of their speech.
Cliff Johnson, a professor at the University of Mississippi Law School and Mississippi director of the MacArthur Justice Center, testified that he and his students often discuss what could be considered “divisive topics.”
In an exchange with Wingate, Johnson said he did not believe the law would allow him to teach about the First, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments; the court case that paved the way for the internment of Japanese citizens during WWII; portions of the Civil Rights Act; or the murders of Emmett Till and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I think I’m in a very difficult position. I can teach my class as usual and run the serious risk of being disciplined, or I could abandon something that’s very important to me,” Johnson said. “I feel a bit paralyzed.”
The Mississippi Attorney General’s Office argued that public employees do not have First Amendment rights.
“They are speaking for the government and the government has every right to tell them what they need to say on its behalf,” said Lisa Reppeto, an attorney at the state attorney general’s office.
She added that the First Amendment does not give students the right to dictate what their school does or does not say.
Reppeto also said the consequences of the law are aimed at the schools — not students or teachers — and that the plaintiffs’ “argument is not consistent with what is in the statute.”
