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.
Yesterday, a three-judge Federal Court of Appeals ruled State Prosecutor Andrew Warren's political speech could not be the basis for his removal. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges sent the case back to a trial judge in Tallahassee to determine if the governor’s suspension was improperly focused on statements Warren opposing certain legislation to criminalize abortion and gender care. DeSantis 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, US 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. The 11th Circuit vacated that decision and instructed Hinkle to hold further proceedings in which DeSantis would have to show that the suspension was based on issues with Warren’s actual performance and policies in office, not just his political advocacy. #Queer Up Courts