As suspended state attorneys fight to win their jobs back, litigation continues

Gov. Ron DeSantis announces his suspension of Orange County State's Attorney Monique Worrell on Aug. 9, 2023. Source: Screenshot/DeSantis Facebook

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While Andrew Warren and Monique Worrell, the two Democratic state attorneys suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis for alleged misconduct, campaign to win their jobs back this summer, litigation continues in their respective cases.

In the case of Warren, attorneys for the suspended Hillsborough County state attorney called on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit this week to speed up the process to consider his case.

“For nearly six months, a single judge of this Court has withheld issuance of the mandate in a case that has been expedited at every stage — from discovery to appeal — and that will determine whether the votes of hundreds of thousands of Floridians actually matter,” wrote attorney David A. O’Neil, representing Warren.

“Every day that passes in this posture is one in which the results of a free and fair election are denied. This Court should immediately issue the mandate so the district court can promptly resolve this litigation.”

The brief doesn’t identify the judge.

Warren is the twice elected Democratic state attorney who was suspended by DeSantis in August 2022 for alleged “neglect of duty” and “incompetence” after he signed pledges not to prosecute alleged crimes arising from abortion or transgender care. Warren challenged his suspension in federal court, where U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled that DeSantis had violated the First Amendment in removing Warren because of political differences and anticipated “political benefit” to the governor — but said he lacked power to reinstate him.

However, a three-judge Eleventh Circuit panel ruled in January that Hinkle should reconsider that decision. But instead of the case going back to Hinkle, attorneys for Gov. DeSantis asked for a rehearing by a full panel of judges on the appeals court. That hasn’t happened yet, much to the consternation of Warren’s legal team.

“In this case, justice delayed is justice denied,” O’Neil writes in his brief. “This Court has already concluded that if Gov. DeSantis suspended Mr. Warren based on the stated rationale – his exercise of core political speech — then the suspension was illegal and invalid.

“The voters of Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit have therefore been unlawfully deprived for more than 700 days of the official whom they elected to serve as State Attorney. Mr. Warren has time remaining in his Term and should be permitted to complete it.”

In the meantime, Warren is running for the Democratic nomination for state attorney in Hillsborough County, where he faces a primary challenge from attorney Elizabeth Martinez Strauss. Warren has raised $241,325 in his effort, while Martinez Strauss has raised $29,975.

The winner will take on GOP incumbent Suzy Lopez, appointed by DeSantis to replace Warren nearly two years ago. She has raised $424,340 in the race.

Worrell’s case

Meanwhile, in the situation involving suspended Orange and Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell, a lawsuit was resubmitted in federal court in Orlando late last month by two citizens and an activist group alleging that their due process and First Amendment rights were violated when DeSantis suspended Worrell last August, effectively disenfranchising them.

In August 2023, DeSantis suspended Worrell, claiming in an executive order that she had neglected her duty to faithfully prosecute crime in her jurisdiction.

The plaintiffs are David Caicedo and Rajib Chowdhury, Orlando residents who voted for Worrell in 2020, while Florida Rising is a progressive advocacy group engaged in voter registration, education, engagement. and election protection programming.

Their suit, which lists DeSantis as defendant, alleges that Worrell pushed an ambitious platform promising criminal justice reform when she campaigned for the state attorney’s position in 2020, when she garnered more than 66% of the vote. Caicedo and Chowdhury say that her promised platform is what compelled them to vote for her, and that Caicedo “was inspired by Ms. Worrell’s commitment to people” and supported her policies for bail reform and decarceration. Chowdhury cast his ballot for her because, he says, he was inspired “by her promise to find alternate ways to reduce recidivism in the juvenile justice system.”

The plaintiffs note in the lawsuit that before Worrell was suspended last summer, violent crime was down 10% compared to 2022 and shootings were down 30% from the prior year.

In May, U.S. District Judge Julie Sneed in the Middle District of Florida dismissed the case, agreeing with claims by DeSantis’ attorneys that the defendants failed to adequately allege that they suffered an injury, and that Florida Rising lacked legal standing to maintain its claims. The judge did say that the plaintiffs could file an amended complaint within 30 days, which they did on June 28.

In June the Florida Supreme Court upheld DeSantis’ suspension of Worrell, concluding on a 6-1 vote that his decision was reasonable based on the allegations he spelled out when he relieved her of her duties.

Worrell has filed to run for re-election in the Ninth Judicial Circuit, where she has raised $234,767 to date. She does not have a Democratic party primary opponent and so will face the winner of the Republican primary, either Seth Hyman or Thomas Feiter, or incumbent Andrew Bain, who is running as a nonparty-affiliated candidate. Bain was appointed by DeSantis last August to replace Worrell.

The Worrell campaign released results of a new poll on Thursday that shows her leading Bain, 40%-28%, with 28% undecided. The survey of 887 general election voters in Orange and Osceola counties was conducted by Change Research between June 10 to June 17.

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