Civil rights groups have dropped their federal lawsuit against Florida’s 2021 “Anti-Riot Act” in the wake of a federal appeals court’s decision concluding that the law’s heightened scrutiny of riot-related acts doesn’t apply to peaceful demonstrators.

The plaintiffs, including Dream Defenders, Black Lives Matter Alliance Broward and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, ended the legal battle earlier this month after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed whether the 2021 law is too vague, overbroad or essentially criminalizes First Amendment activities such as political protests.

“… We hold that the plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their vagueness and overbreadth challenges to the amended riot statute,” the 11th Circuit opinion authored by Judge Jill Pryor states.