By Jim Saunders ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — After Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him as Hillsborough County state attorney in August 2022, Andrew Warren launched a federal court fight to try to get his job back.
Now, after Warren lost an election for the post last week, an appeals court wants to know if the long-simmering legal dispute is moot.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday directed lawyers for Warren and DeSantis to submit briefs about whether the case is moot or will become moot in January. That is when the term Warren was elected to serve in 2020 will end and a new term will start.
With the lawsuit unresolved, Warren, a Democrat, ran in last week’s election against Suzy Lopez, a Republican who was appointed by DeSantis to serve as state attorney after the suspension. Lopez received nearly 53 percent of the vote to win a full term.
In suspending Warren, DeSantis accused him of “incompetence and willful defiance of his duties.” DeSantis’ executive order, in part, pointed to Warren signing a national organization’s statement about refraining from prosecuting abortion cases.
The governor also targeted Warren for signing a statement that criticized laws restricting care for trangender people. In addition, DeSantis cited Warren policies that could limit the prosecution of cases related to bicycle and pedestrian stops by police and certain low-level offenses.
In addition to disputing DeSantis’ accusations about his performance, Warren argued in the lawsuit that the suspension violated his First Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in January 2023 ruled that the First Amendment protected Warren on two factors — his political affiliations and advocacy for criminal justice reform. Nevertheless, he concluded that DeSantis would have suspended Warren based on other factors that were not protected by the First Amendment.
But in a win for Warren, a three-judge panel of the appeals court in January 2024 vacated Hinkle’s ruling. The panel said the suspension violated First Amendment protections in a series of ways and directed Hinkle to look again at whether DeSantis had legitimate policy grounds to oust the twice-elected prosecutor.
DeSantis’ lawyers, however, quickly asked the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to take up the dispute. While Warren’s attorneys made attempts to speed up the resolution of the case, it largely remained on hold. The full appeals court has not heard arguments.
While DeSantis can suspend public officials, the Florida Senate has ultimate authority about whether to remove them from office. The Senate put the Warren issue on hold while the court battle played out.
Warren’s suspension drew national attention, with Democrats arguing it was politically motivated. As an example, DeSantis touted the suspension during his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Similarly, DeSantis made a controversial move last year to suspend Democrat Monique Worrell, the state attorney in Orange and Osceola counties. Lawsuits aimed at restoring Worrell to the position failed.
But Worrell won back her job during last week’s election when she defeated Andrew Bain, who had been appointed state attorney after the suspension. Worrell received 57.5 percent of the vote.
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