TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court rejected Andrew Warren's bid to get his job back as Hillsborough County state attorney after he was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis last summer.
In a 6-1 decision issued Thursday, the court's majority dismissed the case saying he waited too long before filing with the state court.
DeSantis suspended Warren in August 2022 over claims of "neglect of duty" and "incompetence," particularly regarding issues of transition-related health care for transgender youth, abortion rights and instituting policies against prosecuting certain "criminal violations" as reasons for his suspension.
The governor asserted Warren, who had served the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County since 2016 and was reelected in 2020, violated his oath of office and picked and chose the types of laws he enforced.
Warren initially challenged the governor's authority in suspending him and the reasons behind it in federal court where a judge in January, while ruling in the suspended prosecutor's favor on First Amendment grounds, said the federal court could not provide "relief of the kind at issue against a state official based only on a violation of state law."
Warren did not immediately bring his case to the state court after that federal ruling and that delay is why the Florida Supreme Court in its majority opinion dismissed the case.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Warren said, "This is an issue that is crucial for democracy in Florida. Rather than addressing the substance of the governor’s illegal action, the Court cited a technicality and avoided a ruling on the merits of the case. We are extremely disappointed by today’s decision."
Justice Charles Canady wrote that "we agree with the Governor" in that "the time for our review has passed," highlighting the delay Warren and his legal team took in bringing up the case.
"Petitioner [Warren] then waited almost five months before finally petitioning this Court and requesting our “expeditious review” of his state-law claim. Petitioner offers no explanation for the delay. We conclude that, under the circumstances of this case, the time for our review has passed," Canady wrote.
Justice Jorge Labarga, who was the only dissenting vote, disagreed with the court's majority conclusion that "Warren's petition is properly denied on the ground of unreasonable delay."
As stated by the Florida Supreme Court, the final fate of Warren's suspension should and now likely does reside with the Florida Senate, which paused its review of the case as it was making its way through the courts.