Federal judge slaps down Florida’s surgeon general
In another smackdown for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his lackeys, a federal judge on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order against state threats to prosecute TV stations that run ads in support of Florida’s abortion-rights amendment:
The temporary restraining order addresses a lawsuit filed against the state by Floridians Protecting Freedom, a group campaigning for Amendment 4, which will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot. This order expires Oct. 29, when a hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled.
Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker’s sharply worded ruling prevents the department from “taking any further actions to coerce, threaten, or intimate repercussions” against broadcasters for airing the ads or “undertaking enforcement action” against them.
In citing one case used in his ruling, he offered a brief summary:
“To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid.”
“Political advertisement is political speech — speech at the core of the First Amendment. The government cannot excuse its indirect censorship of political speech simply by declaring the disfavored speech is ‘false,’ “ wrote Walker, of the U.S. District Court Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee.
Trumptyism
Is that plain enough for you, Ron? (I’ll bet not.)
The lawsuit was the latest in a series of legal tussles between the DeSantis administration and advocates for amendment, which would protect the right to abortion until fetal viability. It would override the state’s ban on abortion in most cases after the first six weeks of pregnancy.
The commercial, produced by Floridians Protecting Freedom, features a Tampa woman describing how she was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was 20 weeks pregnant, ahead of state restrictions that would have blocked the abortion she received before treatment.
On Oct. 3, the health department, part of the DeSantis administration sent a cease-and-desist letter to several Florida broadcasters threatening criminal prosecution if they did not stop airing the commercial. This order expires Oct. 29, when a hearing on the injunction is scheduled.
The law and order party, friends. When they read the Constitution, it means just what they choose it to mean. That is, it’s no protection for you when they are the ones defending it and appointing judges who think as they do. (Walker was appointed by Barack Obama.)