South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has announced he is leading an 18-state coalition supporting the right of states to restrict the teaching of racially or sexually divisive materials in public schools.
Wilson is spearheading a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Oklahoma lawsuit. The suit challenges an Oklahoma law that prohibits the teaching of specific racist and sexist concepts in K-12 education. The plaintiffs in the case include the Black Emergency Response Team and the Oklahoma NAACP.
The coalition of attorneys general argues that the First Amendment protects citizens’ rights to free speech but does not grant them the right to compel the government to include specific, mandatory instruction in public school curricula. They assert that the government, through its public school system, is not required to retain certain materials or instruction.
The attorneys general ask the Appeals Court to rule in favor of Oklahoma, upholding its law that seeks to prevent the “indoctrination into woke ideologies” that assign blame or condemnation based on a student’s race or sex.
The brief highlights the principle that public schools should remain environments focused on learning and collaboration, free from teachings that promote division.
Sign up for our Sunday Spectator. Delivered to your inbox every Sunday, with all the news from the week.
