Supreme Court fast-tracks challenge to DeSantis’ Amendment 4 website

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to fast-track a case against Gov. Ron DeSantis and other state officials that alleges they improperly used their official power to advocate against a proposed abortion amendment.

The court on Wednesday ordered Jason Weida, the secretary for the Agency for Health Care Administration, to respond to a complaint from a Palm Beach County attorney alleging that a website created by the agency last week about Amendment 4 violated state law.

The attorney, Adam Richardson, also included DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody in his petition, alleging that they have “waged a campaign to interfere with the election.” Richardson asked justices “to forbid them from misusing or abusing their offices and agencies to interfere with the election for Amendment 4.”

Justices could have dismissed Richardson’s complaint. Instead, they ordered the agency to respond to his allegations by 5 p.m. on Sept. 23.

The lawsuit is the most significant legal pushback so far to DeSantis’ efforts to marshal state resources to defeat Amendment 4, which would overturn the state’s six-week abortion ban if passed by 60% of voters in November. The amendment says, in part, that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”

DeSantis, who has made defeating the amendment one of his top priorities this fall, has enlisted his elections police to go door to door asking some Floridians if they really signed petitions to get the amendment on the ballot. Nearly 1 million voters signed the petition, and the state certified it for the ballot in January.

The health agency’s website, launched last week, claims that Amendment 4 “threatens women’s safety,” and it also includes information about groups that donated to the Amendment 4 campaign effort.

Supporters of the amendment immediately criticized the site and speculated it may violate a Florida law that prohibits state employees and officers from using their “official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election.”

DeSantis has defended the state website and an agency advertisement that links to it, saying it was a “public service announcement.”

”We have a responsibility to tell the truth about what the policies are in the State of Florida, and that is 100% accurate,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “It is not weighing in on a specific amendment.”

Along with the health agency’s webpage, Richardson also cited the use of the governor’s Faith and Community Initiative, created by DeSantis “as the voice of the Governor to faith and community organizations,” the initiative’s website states. The initiative last week advertised a call with Moody titled, “Your Legal Rights & Amendment 4′s Ramifications,” USA Today Network-Florida reported.

“Every day Respondents can act unlawfully is another day they abuse state resources and sully the election for Amendment 4,” Richardson said. “The matter cannot wait.”

Richardson asked justices “to forbid them from misusing or abusing their offices and agencies to interfere with the election for Amendment 4.”

The Court’s decision to expedite the case also comes as the ACLU of Florida, a coalition member of the pro-Amendment 4 campaign, said it plans to sue the state in the coming days on behalf of the amendment sponsor Floridians Protecting Freedom.

The lawsuit will challenge the health care agency’s “misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Michelle Morton, an attorney with the ACLU of Florida, said Wednesday.

Richardson’s case is separate from the Amendment 4 campaign, Morton said.