Florida Prosecutor Suspended by DeSantis Loses Bid for Reinstatement as Trial Moves Forward

Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren addresses the media after learning he was suspended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 4, 2022. (Octavio Jones/Reuters)

PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–A federal judge has ruled that a Florida prosecutor suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis will remain out of office while the court case against the state moves toward trial.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, on Sept. 19, denied a motion to reinstate Andrew Warren, former state attorney for Hillsborough County. After his dismissal on Aug. 4, Warren sued the governor to get his job back saying that his first amendment rights had been violated. Warren, a Democrat, was elected in 2016 and again in 2020. DeSantis removed the prosecutor after Warren signed letters of intent that he would not pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition, as well as not bringing forth charges for certain crimes.

The DeSantis administration said they are satisfied with the judge’s decision.

“We are pleased that the court denied Andrew Warren’s request for a preliminary injunction,” Bryan Griffin, press secretary to the governor, told The Epoch Times in an email. “The Governor is entrusted by the people of Florida to utilize his constitutional powers and may suspend elected officials in Florida who refuse to enforce the law.”

Warren contends he was fighting for democracy by defending himself in court.

“Today is an important day in an important fight for democracy—our democracy,” Warren told reporters after the hearing in federal court in Tallahassee. “I’ve spent my career walking into court as a prosecutor, fighting for victims. Today, I went in as a plaintiff, fighting for democracy itself.”

At the hearing, which lasted almost two hours, Hinkle questioned attorneys from the state over whether Warren’s signing the statements on abortion and transgender rights would be “protected under the First Amendment” or if they were “defined policies that would warrant his removal from his elected office.”

“Andrew Warren has no First Amendment right to say he’s not going to do his job,” state Solicitor General Henry C. Whitaker told the judge during the hearing.

Florida’s new abortion restriction became effective July 1. It prohibits abortions after 15 weeks, with exceptions if the procedure is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life, prevent serious injury, or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. It does not allow exceptions in cases where pregnancies were caused by rape, incest or human trafficking.

Violators could face up to five years in prison. Physicians and other medical professionals could lose their licenses and face administrative fines of $10,000 for each violation.

Warren noted that no abortion cases were brought to his office for prosecution.

Florida has not legislated criminalizing gender transition treatments for minors, however, and “these statements prove that Warren thinks he has the authority to defy the Florida Legislature and nullify in his jurisdiction criminal laws with which he disagrees,” the executive order from DeSantis reads.

The executive order also cites Warren’s policy of not pursuing lesser categories of crime, including “trespassing at a business location, disorderly conduct, disorderly intoxication, and prostitution.”

“It is not for him to put himself above that and say that he’s not going to enforce the laws,” DeSantis said on Aug. 4 at a press conference announcing Warren’s removal. “We don’t elect people in one part of the state to have veto power over what the entire state decides on these important issues.”

Policies and Other Statements

In addition, the governor’s order cites how Warren’s office has avoided prosecuting people who commit misdemeanors such as resisting arrest without violence, stating that the policies aren’t “a proper exercise of prosecutorial discretion” and also usurps the authority of the Florida Legislature by not enforcing the law.

The order notes that Warren in 2021 signed a separate statement with other prosecutors regarding biological males using female bathrooms and vice versa.

The prosecutors pledged to “not promote the criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare or transgender people.” Gender-affirming is a term used to describe sex change operations and other procedures meant to facilitate a person’s change from male to female or female to male.

The joint statement said that bills that criminalize such treatments “do not promote public safety, community trust, or fiscal responsibility,” and suggested that they would not be enforced.

DeSantis appointed Susan Lopez to replace Warren while his suspension is in place. Lopez was appointed by DeSantis in 2021 to be a judge on the Hillsborough County Court, and she previously served as an assistant prosecutor in the 13th Judicial Circuit.

Trial dates for Warren’s lawsuit against DeSantis have not yet been set.

Zachary Stieber contributed to this article.