MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida violated the state’s Constitution when he removed Tampa’s top prosecutor from office, but even so, the suspension cannot be overturned by a federal court, a judge ruled on Friday. The judge, Robert L. Hinkle of the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, dismissed a petition by the prosecutor, Andrew H. Warren, to be reinstated to his elected position.
In a 59-page ruling, Judge Hinkle found that the Republican governor’s suspension of Mr. Warren, a Democrat, violated the prosecutor’s free speech rights. The chief reason that Mr. DeSantis cited for removing Mr. Warren from office in August was that Mr. Warren had signed a statement in June against criminalizing abortion.
The governor also cited other justifications for the suspension that do not violate the First Amendment, but do violate the Florida Constitution, Judge Hinkle wrote. “A governor cannot properly suspend a state attorney based on policy differences,” he said in a written order on Friday, nearly two months after a fast-tracked three-day trial in November.
The judge found, however, that he could not order Mr. Warren’s reinstatement, because it was a matter of state law and not federal law.