DeSantis Riot Law Beats Protesters’ Free Speech Challenge (1)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ law imposing felony rioting penalties defeated a free speech challenge from Black Lives Matter protesters.

DeSantis (R) and the state’s beefed-up statute, passed in the wake of the George Floyd protests, was upheld in a federal decision Monday that received a boost from the state high court. However, the groups behind the case called it the opposite of a Pyrrhic victory—they said the loss gave them most of what they wanted.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit paused the protesters’ case last year and asked the Florida Supreme Court for its opinion ...