Tampa Democratic State’s Attorney Andrew Warrenwho was suspended in 2022 by the governor Ron DeSantis after stating that it would not prosecute cases related to the law of Florida that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks, considering that it restricts the right to abortionfiled a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of this state to recover his position.
Warren filed an appeal last night before the Florida Supreme Court to have the highest court reinstate him, arguing that Republican Governor DeSantis violated his First Amendment rights to the Constitution.
“We just filed a lawsuit against DeSantis in the Florida Supreme Court. Now that a federal judge has discovered that he violated Florida and US law by suspending me, we are asking the Supreme Court to force him to comply with the law and reinstate me,” Warren announced last night on social media. “This is simple: no one is above the law, not even the governor.”
The lawsuit from the prosecutor, elected twice in Hillsborough County, on Florida’s west coast, comes a month after a judge in Tallahassee, the state capital, dismissed his lawsuit on technical grounds, but agreed with Warren that the Republican governor improperly fired him.
The state attorney had highlighted, after his suspension in August 2022 by DeSantis, that the governor’s measure implied an abuse of power and that he would appeal to the courts for a sanction that meant “overthrowing” the vote of the citizens.
“It’s not about what I did, but about what I said,” the prosecutor said then to show that, in reality, the suspension was not based on decisions that can be attributed to him.
“With this motion I defend democracy,” Warren said, after also accusing DeSantis of “being out of touch with reality.”
“The truth will prevail,” said the prosecutor, who insisted that the position taken by the governor “affects the justice system.”
Warren had stressed in 2022 that, with his suspension, DeSantis has broken the law on two occasions: first, for violating the First Amendment to the United States Constitution; second, through an alleged abuse of power under the Florida Constitution.
“You cannot fire an official for disagreeing,” said the former prosecutor about the reasons that motivated the Republican to sign the suspension.
DeSantis, who is likely to announce his candidacy as the Republican presidential hopeful, said in the stay order that Warren was derelict in the line of duty and that, as a state attorney, he does not get to choose which laws to enforce.
He alluded to a statement signed in June of that year by various prosecutors in the country, including Warren, in which they stated: “We refuse to use the resources of our offices to criminalize reproductive health decisions.”
On July 1, it entered into force in this state a new state law prohibiting abortion after fifteen weeks of pregnancy, except for exceptions such as the life of the mother being in danger if the procedure is not carried out. The exceptions do not include cases of rape or incest.
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– Biden administration strongly criticizes Florida’s new abortion law
Source: La Opinion
