Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a press conference to announce the expansion of a new, piloted substance abuse and recovery network to disrupt the opioid epidemic, at the Space Coast Health Foundation in Rockledge, Florida.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suspended a state attorney.
The state attorney, Andrew Warren, recently said he wouldn’t enforce Florida’s 15-week abortion ban.
He has also supported progressive criminal justice reforms.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday that he was suspending a Democratic state attorney for refusing to enforce Florida laws including the state’s new abortion ban.
The state attorney, Andrew Warren, has represented Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa Bay, since 2016 and has implemented progressive criminal justice reforms including prioritizing violent crime and decreasing the number of people arrested and incacerated for first-time, non-violent offenses. He chairs the Democratic Safety and Justice Task Force.
DeSantis, a Republican, accused Warren of selectively picking which laws to enforce during his tenure, including a letter saying he would not enforce laws that prohibit transgender care for minors.
“We don’t elect people in one part of the state to have veto power over what the entire state decides on these important issues,” DeSantis, a Republican, said at a press event planked by sheriffs in Tampa, Florida.
Warren did not immediately respond to an Insider request for comment over LinkedIn. A phone call to his office went to voicemail.
DeSantis said he did not have a discussion with Warren to make his decision, but instead spoke with other state officers. Other areas of Florida didn’t have the same complaints, he said.
“I dont think the people of Hillsborough County want to have an agenda that is basically woke, when your view of social justice is that certain laws shouldn’t be enforced,” he said.
The Warren suspension was for “neglect of duty,” according to a release from the governor’s office. Judge Susan Lopez of Hillsborough County will be state attorney during Warren’s suspension.
“We really believe this is a law and order state,” DeSantis said. “We are not going to back down from that one inch.”
Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County said at the press conference that law enforcement officers were frustrated with Warren. He called him “intently focused on empathy for criminals and less interested in pursuing justice for crime victims.”
Brian Dugan, former Tampa police chief, called Warren a “fraud.”
“We should not be here,” he said. “We should have someone who did their job.”
But Democrats came to Warren’s defense. Nikki Fried, Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor, blasted DeSantis in a statement.
“This is a politically motivated attack on a universally respected state attorney democratically elected to exercise prosecutorial discretion,” she said. “Ron DeSantis is a pathetic bully. He’s doing this because he wants to be dictator, not a governor of Florida.”
Florida passed a 15-week abortion ban
Florida’s abortion ban makes it illegal to terminate a pregnancy after 15 weeks, including in cases of rape or incest — though the law is being contested in court.
Warren said in June that he wouldn’t enforce it. He was among 83 prosecutors who signed a letter this summer promising not to prosecute abortion bans. The letter came in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that previously legalized abortion nationally. The Supreme Court overturned the ruling in June, turning the legalization of abortion to the states.
“Not criminalizing a decision that mothers make with her families with her doctors enforcing arbitrary bans on abortion enforcing a law that doesn’t actually promote public safety is something that prosecutors should not be doing,” Warren said, according to Fox 13.
DeSantis singled out Warren’s opposition to the abortion law but said the state attorney had other laws he refused to enforce.
“When you say you are not going to enforce laws you don’t like,” DeSantis said, “that’s a neglect of duty.”
DeSantis is up for reelection in November and anti-abortion advocates tend to side with Republicans. Rumors have swirled that DeSantis will seek the White House in 2024, largely due to his high-profile clashes with the Biden administration, massive campaign warchest, and frequent national headlines.
During the press conference Thursday, DeSantis blasted cities across the US that have faced rising crime rates, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, contrasting them with his “law and order” approach in Florida.
“We are not going to allow this pathogen that has been around the country of ignoring the law,” DeSantis, a Republican, said at a press conference in Tampa, flanked by law enforcement officials. “We are not going to let that get a foothold here.”
This story is developing. Check back for updates.