Court sends case of prosecutor suspended by DeSantis back to trial judge over First Amendment issues
A Democratic Florida prosecutor suspended by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will get another chance to show his political advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and could not be the basis for his removal
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Democratic Florida prosecutor suspended by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will get another chance to show his political advocacy was protected by the First Amendment and could not be the basis for his removal, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case involving ex-prosecutor Andrew Warren back to a trial judge in Tallahassee to determine if the governor's suspension was improperly focused on statements Warren signed along with other prosecutors opposing certain legislation to criminalize abortion and gender care.
DeSantis, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, cited those advocacy statements in his August 2022 suspension of Warren, whom he replaced with Republican Suzy Lopez as the Tampa-based state attorney. Warren, who had been elected twice, recently announced he would not run again this year.
In his January ruling in Warren's lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle agreed with Warren's contention that the advocacy statements were protected by the First Amendment but that DeSantis would likely have suspended him anyway for other reasons.
