Prosecutor Fired by DeSantis Won’t Be Reinstated, Court Rules

A Florida prosecutor fired by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for refusing to charge abortion-related crimes waited too long to ask the state court to get his job back, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

DeSantis removed former Tampa area prosecutor Andrew H. Warren last year after he signed a pledge to refuse to make criminal cases against those who seek, provide, or support abortions. The high court’s majority denied reinstatement on a procedural issue, saying the extraordinary step of reversing a governor’s executive order shouldn’t come when a petitioner drags his feet.

After losing a federal case over his removal and “more than six months after his suspension, Petitioner finally knocked on this Court’s door and requested our ‘expeditious review,’” Justice Charles T. Canady wrote in the court’s six-justice majority opinion. “Whether Petitioner ‘invok[ed] this Court as a backup plan,’ as the Governor argues, or whether Petitioner had other reasons for the delay, we do not know.”

Read more: DeSantis Defeats Suit by Prosecutor He Ousted Over Abortion

Justice Jorge Labarga, the lone dissenter, said that the court should have reinstated a twice-elected official who serves over one million people.

“At the time of Warren’s suspension in August 2022, he was eighteen months into his second four-year term,” he said. “Despite this amount of time remaining on the clock, this Court has denied Warren’s petition on the grounds of untimeliness.”

Canady said Warren, a Democrat, still has one path for getting his job back—seeking reappointment through the state Senate, which is controlled by Republicans.

The case is Warren v. DeSantis, Fla., No. SC2023-0247, 6/22/23.