Federal appeals court backs state on protest law
TALLAHASSEE - After seeking help from the Florida Supreme Court on the meaning of the word "riot," a federal appeals court Monday overturned an injunction against a 2021 state law aimed at cracking down on violent demonstrations.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law is not unconstitutionally vague and overbroad and would not affect peaceful protesters. Civil rights groups contended the measure could lead to peaceful protesters facing criminal charges when demonstrations turn violent.
Uncertain about how to interpret the word "riot" in the law, the federal appeals court last year asked for an opinion from the Florida Supreme Court — a relatively unusual move known as certifying a question to the state court. Justices in June issued an opinion saying peaceful protesters are not threatened by the law.
Drawing from that opinion, the appeals court panel Monday overturned a preliminary injunction that Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued to block the law in 2021.
"The Florida Supreme Court has now confirmed that the riot statute does not attach to peaceful conduct," said the panel's decision, written by Judge Jill Pryor and joined by Judges Elizabeth Branch and Ed Carnes. "A protestor cannot be prosecuted under the riot statute if she is merely found within or alongside a group that turns violent or engages in violence. Instead, the statute requires that the protestor act with the intent to assist others' violent conduct. Mere attendance at a violent protest is not enough. At the very least, a person must intend to assist others' violence within a violent public disturbance."
The decision also said that as "the Supreme Court of Florida has explained, for a protestor to be criminally liable under the statute, the state must prove that the protestor acted with violence or intended to assist another's violence. Peaceful protest is categorically outside the statute's bounds."
Gov. Ron DeSantis championed the controversial law after nationwide protests following the 2020 death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.