National anthem as a mandatory game-starter? Florida free-speech test.

A move by Florida legislators, aimed at making the national anthem a compulsory feature of sporting events, raises some big questions about free speech – especially in the context of wider turbulence over politics and race.

The bellwether state of Florida now is amping up the volume in a nationwide discourse on race as a core facet of political culture wars.

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential top contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, the state has raised penalties for organizers of protests, banned teachers from putting the words “critical” and “race” next to each other in a sentence, and barred professors from testifying against state policies on voting rights and public health mandates. All of those moves carry racial implications. And many are headed for court: A judge issued an injunction against the “anti-riot law,” calling it ”constitutionally vague.” 

Now state lawmakers are debating a bill that would compel private sports teams like the Jacksonville Icemen or Miami Dolphins to play “The Star-Spangled Banner” at each game. Note: This already is a pregame tradition for professional sports. Codifying it into law could run into First Amendment challenges.

Governor DeSantis has rhetorically situated the Sunshine State as “freedom’s vanguard.”