After Warren pledged not to prosecute those who seek or have abortions or those who provide so-called gender confirmation treatments earlier this month, DeSantis announced he was suspending Warren for “neglect of duty” and “incompetence” as Hillsborough County district attorney. Under Florida law, a governor can remove “any county officer” for a felony, dereliction of duty, drunkenness, incapacity, permanent incapacity to perform official duties, or commission of a felony. “The First Amendment still applies even though DeSantis is the Governor of Florida and the Florida State Constitution means what the courts say, not what DeSantis needs to silence his critics, advance his loyalists and undermine the will of the voters,” Warren’s attorneys said in a complaint filed Wednesday in the District Court for the Northern District of Florida. In response to CNN’s request for comment, Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, said, “It is not surprising that Warren, who was suspended for refusing to follow the law, would file a legally meritless lawsuit challenging his suspension. We look forward to it.” to answer in court.” Warren told CNN on Wednesday that he hopes a court “will admit and show that what (DeSantis) did is an abuse of his authority under the Florida Constitution. He can’t just suspend an election. He can’t just throw out the people’s votes because he disagrees with something I’ve said.” He accused DeSantis of “suing against me for speaking out against him in violation of my First Amendment rights. And abusing his power under the Florida Constitution to suspend an elected official.” He also argued that the Florida law signed by DeSantis banning abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional. “I can’t enforce an unconstitutional law and I haven’t had a case come before me yet. It’s not about anything I’ve done. It’s about what I’ve said,” Warren said. Pressed on whether he would prosecute a case that violates an abortion law deemed constitutional, Warren said he would evaluate the merits of the case. “We would look at it the same way we look at each of the 50 to 60,000 cases that come to my office each year. We look at the law and look at the facts. And then we make a decision on that case, based on that particular information.” , he said. CNN’s Steven Contorno contributed to this report.
