Florida Governor DeSantis wants to end legal challenge to suspension of prosecutor Monique Worrell

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is seeking to end a legal challenge to his controversial decision last year to suspend Orlando District Attorney Monique Worrell. On Friday, state attorneys filed a 25-page motion asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by two local residents and the group Florida Rising Together. The suit alleges that DeSantis violated due process and voters’ First Amendment rights by suspending her.

The motion makes several arguments, including that the plaintiffs lack standing and that DeSantis has not violated federal constitutional rights. “It is clearly not a violation of the U.S. Constitution for states to authorize the suspension and removal of elected state officials for neglect of duty and other misconduct or incompetence,” the motion states.

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DeSantis’ legal team further argued that Worrell’s suspension could only violate the plaintiff’s substantive rights to a fair trial if he had to prove a fundamental right to keep his chosen candidate in office. “Plaintiffs still cannot cite a single case (a precedent) to support this proposition,” the motion continued.

Plaintiffs David Caicedo and Rajib Chowdhury and Florida Rising Together filed a revised version of their complaint in Orlando on June 28 after U.S. District Judge Julie Sneed dismissed an earlier version in May. They argue that DeSantis’ suspension of Worrell “incapacitated” voters. The revised complaint alleges that Worrell has fulfilled her campaign promises to reform the criminal justice system, met her professional and ethical obligations and exercised her discretion as a prosecutor.

In August, Governor DeSantis issued an executive order suspending Worrell, a Democrat elected in 2020 to the 9th Judicial District, which covers Orange and Osceola counties. The order said Worrell’s policies had prevented assistant district attorneys from seeking minimum sentences for gun and drug trafficking offenses.

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The aim of the revised lawsuit is to have DeSantis’ executive order declared unconstitutional. “Governor DeSantis overrode plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights of association and speech when he abused the suspension power he has under Florida law,” the lawsuit states.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld Worrell’s suspension in a separate case decided on June 6. Despite the ongoing litigation, Worrell is running for district attorney again in the November election. One of her opponents is Andrew Bain, a former Orange County judge who was appointed by DeSantis to replace her and is running as an independent.

Unless the lawsuit is dismissed, it is unlikely that the legal issues will be resolved before the election. According to court records, Judge Sneed has scheduled a trial start date of May 2025.

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