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As we head into a year of unprecedented importance of the courts in protecting our Constitution and democracy, this was a rather unexpected good bit of news.
A bit of background. Prosecutors are elected officials in Florida. Florida law gives the governor authority to suspend/fire such prosecutors for very limited specific reasons, such as neglect of duty, etc. DeSantis wanted to make a political point and fired Andrew Warren, a Democratic prosecutor and apparently an up and coming politician. Warren brought suit in federal court against DeSantis, arguing violation of his First Amendment rights for criticizing certain of DeSantis' policies. The right wing press labeled the lawsuit a joke. He lost at the trial court level (presided over by a Bill Clinton appointee) While the trial judge largely agreed with Warren on the facts he found that DeSantis had stated sufficient pretext reasons to support the firing.
On appeal the case was reversed and DeSantis was smoked by a unanimous opinion written by a very conservative Trump appointee who blasted DeSantis' actions as an affront to democracy and free political speech. Read the link, it's short and very informative.
Hopefully one or more of the current Supreme Court Justices will get a similar come to Jesus moment and stop being such partisan tools.
A bit of background. Prosecutors are elected officials in Florida. Florida law gives the governor authority to suspend/fire such prosecutors for very limited specific reasons, such as neglect of duty, etc. DeSantis wanted to make a political point and fired Andrew Warren, a Democratic prosecutor and apparently an up and coming politician. Warren brought suit in federal court against DeSantis, arguing violation of his First Amendment rights for criticizing certain of DeSantis' policies. The right wing press labeled the lawsuit a joke. He lost at the trial court level (presided over by a Bill Clinton appointee) While the trial judge largely agreed with Warren on the facts he found that DeSantis had stated sufficient pretext reasons to support the firing.
On appeal the case was reversed and DeSantis was smoked by a unanimous opinion written by a very conservative Trump appointee who blasted DeSantis' actions as an affront to democracy and free political speech. Read the link, it's short and very informative.
Hopefully one or more of the current Supreme Court Justices will get a similar come to Jesus moment and stop being such partisan tools.
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