By Dara Kam ©2023 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — Suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren has requested the Florida Supreme Court to order Gov. Ron DeSantis to reinstate the prosecutor, arguing the governor “exceeded his powers” by ousting the twice-elected Democrat final 12 months.
A petition filed Wednesday at the Supreme Court is the newest salvo in Warren’s try to get his job again after DeSantis issued the suspension Aug. 4 and accused the prosecutor of “incompetence” and “neglect of duty.”
Warren filed a federal lawsuit difficult his ouster, and U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle final month dominated that the suspension violated the Florida Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. But Hinkle stated he lacked the authority to reinstate the prosecutor. Warren on Tuesday notified the court docket that he intends to attraction the determination.
Wednesday’s petition, quoting liberally from Hinkle’s Jan. 20 determination, urged justices to discover that DeSantis overstepped his authority and to order the governor to reinstate the state legal professional, who was first elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.
“This (Supreme) Court’s final determination that the governor exceeded his power under Florida’s Constitution by issuing the executive order is necessary for the proper function of Florida’s government both now and in the future,” Warren’s legal professionals wrote.
Hinkle’s ruling blasted DeSantis and his aides for failing to conduct a radical investigation earlier than ousting Warren.
“The assertion that Mr. Warren neglected his duty or was incompetent is incorrect. This factual issue is not close … The record includes not a hint of misconduct by Mr. Warren,” Hinkle wrote.
Warren’s legal professionals argued that the state Supreme Court ought to heed the federal decide’s findings.
“In sum, the governor used his solemn power under the Florida Constitution to suspend another elected official indefinitely from his elected office based on allegations of neglect of duty and incompetence that were never true and now have been conclusively proven false,” Warren’s legal professionals wrote.
In an govt order suspending Warren, DeSantis pointed to a letter the prosecutor signed pledging to keep away from implementing a brand new regulation stopping abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant.
Also, the governor focused a press release Warren joined condemning the criminalization of transgender folks and gender-affirming care. In addition, DeSantis cited Warren insurance policies that would restrict prosecution of circumstances associated to bicycle and pedestrian stops by police and sure low-level offenses.
But Warren’s legal professionals argued that DeSantis’ order “relies on proven falsehoods” and “fails to identify any duty that was neglected or any condition rendering Mr. Warren incompetent, within the meaning of the Florida Constitution.”
“The executive order merely takes issue with Mr. Warren’s policy choices and political views and speech, which are impermissible bases for suspension,” the legal professionals wrote, including that the order “further violates Florida law because it encroaches upon powers that belong exclusively to the people or to other branches of Florida’s government.”
Hinkle’s ruling discovered that DeSantis didn’t meet the Florida Constitution’s threshold for a suspension, however as a federal decide, he couldn’t do something about it.
“These other factors could not properly be the basis for a suspension under the Florida Constitution — there were no blanket nonprosecution policies, no neglect of duty, and no incompetence — but … relief cannot be awarded in this federal action based solely on a violation of state law. And of critical importance: a violation of state law is not, without more, a violation of the United States Constitution,” the decide wrote.
Wednesday’s petition famous that Hinkle’s ruling stated DeSantis “could easily set it right” by reinstating the prosecutor. But the governor ignored a Warren request to reverse the suspension.
Warren is in search of a “writ of quo warranto,” which implies that the governor overstepped his authority, or, alternatively, a “writ of mandamus” ordering DeSantis to reinstate the prosecutor.
But Warren might face an uphill battle at the Supreme Court, the place the Republican governor appointed 4 justices to be a part of two conservative-leaning justices to kind a stable majority.
The state court docket additionally has proven reluctance to overturn DeSantis suspensions.
Justices in 2019 unanimously refused to reinstate former Okaloosa County Superintendent of Schools Mary Beth Jackson and former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel after DeSantis stripped them of their posts.
The court docket has a “limited role in reviewing the exercise of the suspension power,” which the Constitution “commits to the governor and which inherently involves ‘judgment and discretion,’” the justices dominated in Jackson’s attraction.
“As the lead attorney defending Governor DeSantis’ authority to suspend both Mary Beth Jackson & Scott Israel in front of FLSC (Florida Supreme Court), I can say with high confidence this political stunt will be met with the same fate: suspension upheld as constitutional, FL Senate is the ultimate court,” Nick Primrose, a former deputy basic counsel for DeSantis, stated in a Twitter put up Thursday.
The Florida Senate has authority to take away suspended officers from workplace.
Warren’s legal professionals, in the meantime, argued the prosecutor “was elected and re-elected after making and keeping numerous promises to voters about how he would perform his duties,” setting forth “a vision for his office that began with criminal justice reform, including focusing on long-term safety by balancing punishment, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.”
They acknowledged that Warren repeatedly spoke out on “matters of public importance” all through his tenure and signed onto the joint statements about transgender well being care and abortion.
“At no time while in office, though, has Mr. Warren had any policy, written or otherwise, of his office that applied specifically to cases involving abortion or transgender rights. Nor has Mr. Warren ever been referred a case for prosecution involving an abortion- or transgender-rights-related crime,” his legal professionals argued.
The suspension got here after DeSantis requested adviser Larry Keefe, a former United States legal professional who is called the state’s “public safety czar,” if any state attorneys weren’t following legal guidelines.
Testifying throughout a November trial in Warren’s case, Keeve stated he launched an “ad hoc” inquiry by talking to some law-enforcement officers and located that “all roads were consistently leading to Mr. Warren.”
Warren’s legal professionals on Wednesday highlighted Hinkle’s condemnation of Keefe’s cursory probe.
“The sole purpose of their minimal research about Mr. Warren was to dig up ‘a pretext’ that could be used to ‘justify a decision already in the works on other grounds’ that the governor knew he could not lawfully say out loud,” they wrote.