DeSantis said that Florida schools already provide a comprehensive view of America's past, including mandatory instruction on slavery, the civil-rights movement and the Holocaust. He stated, "We will not use your tax dollars to teach our kids to hate this country or hate each other." He also defended merit and said that excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, color-blindness are somehow racist or sexist.

The newly signed legislation was swiftly challenged in a federal lawsuit that argues the law violates First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights and seeks an injunction to stop it from going into effect. The plaintiffs contend that the new law will prevent Florida's K-12 schoolteachers, college and university professors, and employers from espousing viewpoints about race in America, such as institutional racism and implicit bias. But DeSantis is confident that the new law is legal.