Florida Supreme Court upholds DeSantis suspension of Monique Worrell

[In It to Win It]

Orlando Sentinel - Gift Link

The Florida Supreme Court ruled 6-1 in an opinion released Thursday against suspended Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell in her attempt to get her job back.

The court said Gov. Ron DeSantis had the authority to remove her for incompetence and neglect of duty.

The majority opinion, signed by Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz and Justices Charles Canady, John Couriel, Jamie Grosshans and Meredith Sasso, said there was sufficient basis for Worrell’s suspension. This is despite her objections that the claims against her — that she didn’t more aggressively prosecute accused gun and drug traffickers and serious youth offenders — were vague.

“We cannot agree with Worrell that the allegations in the Executive Order are impermissibly vague, nor that they address conduct that falls within the lawful exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” read the opinion.

While the ruling pointed out specific claims in the executive order suspending her and in oral arguments made in December by DeSantis’ attorneys, parsing the validity of the specific claims, the majority argued, is the job of the Florida Senate, which holds a Republican supermajority.

Justice Jorge Labarga, the sole dissenter, countered that voters in Orange and Osceola counties overwhelmingly voted to entrust her with “the specific challenges and circumstances posed by her diverse circuit in dealing with specific cases.” That argument was rejected by the majority.

[Biophilic]

1. And so, Florida, becomes more and more a dictatorship under DeSantis.

[In It to Win It]

2. And this Supreme Court is letting it happen one case at a time

So long as the order suspending her passes their barest minimum test, then they have nothing to say about it.