A federal appeals court ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) violated the First Amendment rights of former state attorney Andrew Warren when he suspended him in 2022.
The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Wednesday vacated and remanded the case to U.S. district court to “reexamine whether DeSantis would have suspended Warren based solely on the unprotected activities that motivated the suspension.”
DeSantis suspended Warren, who he labeled as being supported by liberal billionaire George Soros, in August 2022 for saying he would not enforce some state laws on abortion and other crimes.
The District Court had previously ruled that it could not reinstate Warren because of the 11th Amendment, which denies the court from “awarding declaratory or injunctive relief of the kind at issue against a state official based only on a violation of state law,” but Judge Robert Hinkle did criticize DeSantis’s suspension of Warren.
The ruling gives new life to Warren’s bid to be reinstated as prosecutor for the 13th Judicial Circuit of Florida. Warren applauded the ruling in a post on X on Wednesday, saying that he looks forward to returning the case to district court.
This is what we’ve been fighting for from the beginning—the protection of democracy. We look forward to returning to the district court for the relief that has been denied to me and all the voters of Hillsborough County for 17 months: reinstating the person elected by the voters.
— Andrew Warren (@AndrewWarrenFL) January 10, 2024
“This is what we’ve been fighting for from the beginning — the protection of democracy. We look forward to returning to the district court for the relief that has been denied to me and all the voters of Hillsborough County for 17 months: reinstating the person elected by the voters,” Warren said.
DeSantis’s office decried the ruling as being “an egregious encroachment on state sovereignty.”
“A state prosecutor’s declared commitment to not enforce the laws of this state is not protected by the U.S. Constitution. The federal appeals court is flat wrong to have concluded otherwise. It’s disappointing that a federal appellate court would excuse such a blatant violation of that prosecutor’s oath to defend Florida law,” Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for the governor, said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Governor DeSantis used his authority under the state constitution to suspend this prosecutor from office, and the authority to remove lies with the Florida Senate. It’s inappropriate for a federal court to intervene in this matter,” he added. “This decision sets a dangerous precedent, and it will empower the chaos we see across the United States as politically motivated prosecutors will continue to ignore criminal laws they don’t like and put our communities at risk.”
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Redfern also said the governor’s office was still looking over the appeals court’s decision.
DeSantis would suspend a second state attorney, Monique Worrell, in August 2023 for alleged incompetence and neglect of duty. Worrell was the state attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit in central Florida.