Fed Judge to Florida: 'It's The First Amendment, Stupid'

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ top deputies directed a Florida health department lawyer to threaten Florida television stations with criminal prosecution for running political advertisements that support enshrining abortion rights in the state’s Constitution, according to new court records.

The Tampa Bay Times reports Florida Department of Health general counsel John Wilson said he was given prewritten letters from one of DeSantis’ lawyers on Oct. 3 and told to send them under his own name, he wrote in a sworn affidavit Monday.

Although he had never participated in any discussions about the letters, Wilson sent them anyway, he wrote, setting off a firestorm that led to a federal judge last week ordering the state not to threaten any more TV stations.

Wilson abruptly quit Oct. 10, writing in his resignation letter, “A man is nothing without his conscience.” The letter did not explicitly say he was resigning over the controversy. But in his affidavit, Wilson said he quit to avoid sending out more letters to TV stations. His affidavit states DeSantis’ general counsel, Ryan Newman, and deputy general counsel, Jed Doty, directed him to send letters in his name.

The court records are the most detailed account yet of how the governor’s office is pressuring top administration officials and state employees to carry out a taxpayer-funded campaign to defeat Amendment 4, a ballot measure that if approved on Nov. 5 would broaden access to abortion.

Wilson’s letters threatened to criminally prosecute television stations with second-degree misdemeanors if they did not take down a 30-second ad in support of the amendment.

The ad features Caroline Williams, who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer two years ago while pregnant with her second child. The woman says Florida’s six-week abortion ban would have prevented her from receiving a potentially life-saving abortion.

Wilson’s letters said the ad was “categorically false” and that it constituted an illegal “sanitary nuisance” under state law that could put women’s health and lives at risk if it continued to be broadcast. At least one station, WINK-TV in Fort Myers, stopped running the ad.

The letters are now the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group leading the “Yes on 4″ campaign. The group sued Wilson in his personal capacity, along with Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, the head of the Department of Health.

The group claimed the state agency’s threats were a violation of the group’s First Amendment rights to political speech, and a federal judge last week agreed to impose a temporary restraining order on the state from sending additional letters. The order expires later this month when a more complete hearing will be held.

“To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid,” U.S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote.