(Headline USA) The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was within his rights to remove a radical prosecutor who opposed prosecutions for abortions or gender-mutilation health procedures, in defiance of state law.
The state’s highest court ruled that Andrew Warren had waited too long to file a petition.
In a 6-1 decision, Florida’s highest court rejected the petition brought by Warren, a twice-elected state attorney for Florida’s Hillsborough County in the Tampa area. Warren claimed that DeSantis had misused his power. Warren said that he was disappointed with the decision.
“This is an issue that is crucial for democracy in Florida,” Warren said in a statement. “Rather than addressing the substance of the governor’s illegal action, the Court cited a technicality and avoided a ruling on the merits of the case.”
The Republican governor last year suspended Warren, accusing him of neglect of duty and incompetence, after the Democrat state attorney signed statements, along with other leftist activist prosecutors across the country, opposing criminal charges against abortion providers or women seeking abortions. He also said he wouldn’t prosecute people for providing gender mutilating procedures, and his office’s policies didn’t charge people with other crimes.
Florida had a 15-week abortion ban at the time, and DeSantis earlier this year signed into law a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. DeSantis also championed legislation that banned transgender minors from receiving what a growing body of evidence show to be dangerous puberty blockers, but a federal judge earlier this month blocked portions of the new law.
DeSantis this spring launched a campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Warren also challenged his removal in federal court, where he said that DeSantis punished him for being a dissenting voice, violating his constitutional right to free speech, and nullifying the election that brought Warren to office. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, in dismissing Warren’s lawsuit in January, wrote that federal law prevents him from returning the prosecutor to office. Warren has appealed that decision.
In its ruling, Florida’s highest court left open the possibility that the case could be reconsidered if a rehearing motion is filed and suggested that Warren could take his case before the Republican-dominated Senate.
But the ruling noted that Warren chose to take his case to federal court first instead of state court, and that there was a six-month gap between his suspension and when he filed his petition. The Florida Supreme Court could deny the petition not only based on the merits of the case but for other reasons, such as “a petitioner who unreasonably delays filing a petition,” the ruling said.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
