The justices refused to narrow a lower-court order that has prohibited the law from being enforced statewide.
Florida had asked the court to allow its anti-drag show law to be enforced everywhere except at the Hamburger Mary's restaurant in Orlando, which challenged the law's constitutionality.
Three justices, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, said they would have granted the state's request.
Last month, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s order stopping the law from being enforced. The district court found that the law likely restricted free speech and couldn't be enforced anywhere in the state.
Hamburger Mary’s regularly hosts drag shows, including family-friendly performances on Sundays that children are invited to attend. The restaurant’s owner said the law was overly broad, was written vaguely and violated First Amendment rights by chilling speech.
The new law championed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, punished venues for allowing children into what it called “adult live performances.” Though it did not mention drag shows specifically, the sponsor of the legislation said it was aimed at those performances.
Venues that violated the law faced fines and the possibility that their liquor licenses to be suspended or revoked. Individuals could be charged with a misdemeanor crime.
The lawyer for former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik turned over thousands of pages and documents to a special counsel as part of an investigation into Kerik's alleged involvement to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Israel’s parliament on Monday approved the first major law in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious plan to overhaul the country’s justice system, triggering a new burst of mass protests and drawing accusations that he was pushing the country toward authoritarian rule.
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea, South Korea’s military said Tuesday, adding to a recent streak in weapons testing that is apparently in protest of the U.S. sending major naval assets to South Korea in a show of force.
Now the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has proposed a rule that would cut the current limit for silica exposure by half — a major victory for safety advocates. But there is skepticism and concern about the government following through after years of broken promises and delays.
A state trooper's account of officers denying migrants water in 100-degree Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) temperatures and razor wire leaving asylum-seekers bloodied has prompted renewed criticism.
