The Republican governor announced he was suspending Warren, a Democrat, in early August, accusing him of “neglect of duty” and “incompetence” as the elected district attorney of Tampa-based Hillsborough County. Warren had pledged not to prosecute those who seek or perform abortions or those who provide gender-affirming treatments.
On Wednesday, within 12 hours of Warren’s lawyers filing a motion in federal court to challenge the suspension, the Florida Senate temporarily halted its process to consider Warren’s recall, Simpson said in a statement press
“Senate counsel notes that the pending litigation challenges the entirety of the executive order,” Simpson, a Republican, wrote in his letter Wednesday to Warren and all state senators. “Therefore, the basis of any future proceedings in the Senate will be affected by the current litigation.”
In his letter, Simpson asked senators to suspend proceedings related to Warren’s suspension until “a final determination is made in this pending litigation.”
Warren’s lawsuit alleges that DeSantis violated the state attorney’s First Amendment rights and exceeded DeSantis’ authority as governor under Florida statute. In his lawsuit, Warren is asking the court to order DeSantis to rescind the executive order suspending him and reinstate him.
Under Florida law, a governor can remove “any county officer” for embezzlement, embezzlement, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony.
Warren had signed two separate letters from the progressive organization Fair and Just Prosecution, denouncing laws that criminalize doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender people and saying prosecutors “have a responsibility to refrain from use the limited resources of the criminal legal system” to prosecute them. that seek, provide or support abortion. Florida has a law that bans abortion after 15 weeks and prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in school sports as women.
Warren argued Wednesday on CNN’s “New Day” that the “Florida Constitution sets very limited parameters under which a governor can suspend an elected official” and that DeSantis was trying to “substitute his judgment for that of the voters who voted for me choose”.
“He can’t throw away people’s votes because he disagrees with something I said,” Warren said of the governor.
On Wednesday, DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske told CNN, “It’s no surprise that Warren, who was suspended for refusing to comply with the law, filed a lawsuit without legal basis challenging her suspension.
“We hope to be able to respond in court,” Fenske added.
CNN’s Steve Contorno and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.