Who is Mark Walker? Florida judge blocks Ron DeSantis' 'anti-woke' law for colleges

The measure was challenged in court in September by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) which claimed that it had an unlawful effect on free speech on college campuses. “I hope that the courts will defend the existence of a public education that cannot be manipulated by politicians to push any ideology, now and in the future,” FIRE plaintiff Adriana Novoa, a University of South Florida history professor of 17 years, said to Daily Mail. Walker concurred, stating that both the 14th Amendment's due process rights and the First Amendment's prohibitions against censorship were breached by the 'Stop WOKE' Act. “Defendants argue that, under this Act, professors enjoy 'academic freedom' so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves,” the chief judge wrote.

Who is Judge Mark Walker?

Mark Eaton Walker is the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and joined the court in 2012. In 2018, Walker was appointed chief judge. A resident of Winter Garden, Florida, Walker earned his bachelor's degree from the College of Florida in 1989 and his law degree from the College of Florida College of Law in 1992. From 1993 to 1994, he clerked for Judge Emmett Ripley Cox on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit after receiving the second highest grade of his class in law school. In July 1997, he began working in private practice for a short time before becoming an assistant public defender for Florida's Second Judicial Circuit. From 1999 to 2009, he was in private practice and focused on civil litigation and criminal defense. From 2009 to 2012, Walker worked in Tallahassee as a state Circuit Judge.