TAMPA, Florida — Suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren on Friday will head to Denver where the American Bar Association will give him their highest award for someone in the criminal justice sector.
“It's a tremendous honor to be recognized for embodying what it means to be a prosecutor,” Warren said in an interview with 10 Tampa Bay’s Aaron Parseghian Thursday.
Warren will be presented the award, one year to the date he was suspended and removed from office by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after Warren signed pledges to not prosecute abortion or transgender healthcare-related cases.
The prosecutor said he was notified by email that morning, explaining, “Armed deputies showed up, and they escorted me out of the office without warning without even giving me a chance to review the unlawful executive order."
Over the past year, Warren, who was elected twice by Hillsborough County voters, has been fighting to get his job back. He says those kinds of cases never came across his desk.
He sued the governor in federal court, where a judge ruled that DeSantis violated Warren’s 1st Amendment rights, but also said he didn't hold the authority to reinstate him.
"It's been five months since the federal court detailed exactly how this suspension was illegal. And I'm still not back in office," Warren said. "That is a long, slow slap in the face to the voters of Hillsborough County, and everybody who believes in democracy and the rule of law."
The Florida Supreme Court, the majority of whom are DeSantis appointees declined to take up his case. In a 6-1 decision, the court's majority said he waited too long before filing with the state court.
Warren is still waiting on a decision from a Federal Appellate Court in Birmingham, Alabama.
“This is about more than me, it's about more than the job of state attorney," Warren said. "This is a fight to protect the constitutional rights of Floridians to defend democracy in our state, and to uphold the rule of law.
"So we're not giving up."
Over the same year, the governor who suspended him has risen to a presidential candidate and his removal of Warren comes up during stops on the campaign trail.
“A federal court found that what he did was illegal, and he's standing up and bragging about it to people around the country hoping that they're not going to learn the truth. Maybe that's why he's struggling in the polls,” Warren added.
Meantime, Suzy Lopez, the Hillsborough County State Attorney appointed by DeSantis to replace him, has announced her plans to campaign for the seat in 2024. Warren won’t yet say if he’ll run again then, adding, “My four-year term isn't over yet.”
“I'm fighting not just to get back to serve the residents of Hillsborough County, but to make sure that we still have a functioning democracy in Hillsborough and in the state of Florida,” he added.
10 Tampa Bay reached out to DeSantis’ office for comment. His press secretary Jeremy Redfern responded, “Mr. Warren remains suspended from the office he failed to serve."