In a video message, Warren said that in addition to violating her right to free speech, she violated Florida law.
“He violated the Florida Constitution, removed me from office without any legal justification, and threw out the results of a fair and free election,” Warren said.
DeSantis’ office dismissed Warren’s federal complaint as “baseless.”
“It’s no surprise that Warren, who was suspended for refusing to follow the law, filed a legally unfounded lawsuit challenging her suspension. We look forward to responding in court,” DeSantis’ spokesperson said in a statement.
Warren has been in office since 2016 and was re-elected in 2020 with more than 53 percent of the vote.
Louis Virelli, a law professor at Stetson University College of Law, told The Washington Post that DeSantis suspending Warren and replacing him with someone of his choice sets the tone for democracy in Florida.
“A small step from here is, as governor, if I don’t think a state prosecutor is being tough enough on a particular crime, I’m going to transfer you a person that I like,” Virelli said. “It defies the will of the voters.”
Virelli said a complaint is one of the few options Warren has if he wants to keep his job.
Part of Warren’s argument in the complaint is that the Florida Constitution defines removal as actual incapacity or inability to work and breach of statutory duty.
“Warren is being punished for what he said, not what he did,” Virelli said.
Shortly after Warren’s suspension, her office’s chief communications officer was told she had to resign and pay a full month — or be fired on the spot.
Melanie Snow-Waxler, who started her job with the state attorney’s office in May, was fired on Aug. 12.
“This illegal shooting was part of a complex pattern of revenge,” his attorney, Ryan Barrack, said in a statement this week.
DeSantis and Warren are ideological rivals on topics such as abortion, Covid restrictions and criminal justice and transgender rights.
That day in June Topps v. Jackson The ruling, which effectively ended the federal right to abortion access, was signed by Warren along with dozens of other attorneys across the country. pledge They will “avoid using limited criminal justice system resources to criminalize individual medical decisions.”
In 2021, Warren signed a similar joint statement with other elected attorneys general, saying that health care decisions should be a matter of “private discretion” and that they “will not use their office to promote gender-affirming health care or the criminalization of transgender people.”
DeSantis’ administration has pursued radical policies to increasingly restrict medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy; Just last week, The state barred people from using Medicare to pay for sex-affirmation care.
Since Warren’s suspension, he and DeSantis have been at odds over the nature of the suspension. Although Warren’s filing described her suspension as “temporary,” DeSantis’ office said Warren no longer serves as state’s attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County after the governor appointed Susan Lopez, a Republican judge who supported Warren’s opponent in 2016.
