Dem
51
GOP
49
At least, it has bitten the dust for now. As we have written numerous times, the government can step in and encumber people's free speech if doing so serves a compelling public interest. The various red-state bans on drag performances do not serve a compelling public interest—if they did, then certainly the governors signing them into law would be able to articulate a better argument than "think of the children!" On top of that, even if the policy is valid, there has to be a reasonably clear way to separate illegal behavior from non-illegal behavior. The anti-drag laws do nothing to help distinguish "illegal drag show" from "Scottish guys in kilts" or "performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream" or "John Travolta stars in Hairspray."
Tennessee was the first state to see its drag ban fall victim to a judge's pen, and yesterday, Florida joined the list. Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida Gregory Presnell issued an injunction, and said that—guess what?—the Florida bill banning drag shows for children violates the First Amendment and is also too vague to be enforceable. He further added that it conflicts with Florida's own Parents' Bill of Rights, which empowers parents to make their own decisions about these sorts of things, as opposed to the government making the decisions for them.
The administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) says it is going to appeal, and that it expects the law to be reinstated. Yeah, good luck with that—the legal problems with the bill are very real, and are not going to be washed away with fairy dust and wishful thinking. Meanwhile, DeSantis' argument for the presidency is that he "gets things done." Except that, once again, he got things done for maybe a couple of months, and then lost in court because his actions were unconstitutional. One imagines that the voters who might give DeSantis a look are going to notice that the things he does—which, by the way, likely can't be replicated on a national level because Congress is nowhere near as pliant as the Florida legislature—don't stick. And if the Governor doesn't actually get things done, then what does he offer for right-wing voters, really? (Z)