Overview
- The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit vacated a federal district judge’s statewide preliminary injunction on Tuesday, restoring enforcement of Florida’s 2023 Protection of Children Act that bars minors from certain adult live performances.
- The court issued an 8–5 decision, with a majority opinion by Judge Andrew Brasher saying the district court lacked authority to issue a universal injunction and finding Hamburger Mary’s was unlikely to win on its vagueness and overbreadth claims.
- The statute makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly admit a child to an adult live performance that depicts nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, specific sexual acts, lewd conduct, or the lewd display of prosthetic genitals or breasts, and the appeals court relied on state-law definitions when rejecting the vagueness challenge.
- Florida officials hailed the ruling as a major victory for child protection, while opponents say the law risks chilling constitutionally protected expression; the venue that sued, Hamburger Mary’s, may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
- Coverage of the ruling split along political lines, with conservative outlets framing it as a win for family protection and progressive outlets warning of limits on free speech, and legal observers say a Supreme Court appeal could set wider precedent on First Amendment limits and when courts may issue statewide injunctions.