Arkansas can enforce critical race theory ban in classrooms, federal court says [View all]

Source: NBC News/AP

July 16, 2025, 7:44 PM EDT / Source: The Associated Press


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Arkansas can enforce its ban on critical race theory in classrooms, ruling the First Amendment doesn't give students the right to compel the state to offer its instruction in public schools. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued against the ban, one of several changes adopted under an education overhaul that Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed in 2023.

The prohibition is being challenged by two teachers and two students at Little Rock Central High School, site of the 1957 desegregation crisis. A federal judge had granted the injunction to the students but not the teachers.

"Just as ordinary citizens cannot require the government to express a certain viewpoint or maintain a prior message, students cannot oblige the government to maintain a particular curriculum or offer certain materials in that curriculum based on the Free Speech Clause," the judges ruled.

Attorneys for the teachers and students said they were disappointed in the ruling. "It gives us pause and concern about a steady erosion of individual rights and protections in this great country," attorney Mike Laux said in a statement. "Nonetheless, major aspects of this lawsuit remain viable, and they will proceed in due course."

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/arkansas-can-enforce-critical-race-theory-ban-classrooms-federal-court-rcna219228