Analysis | Ron DeSantis launches a trend: Local prosecutors are now central players in the culture war – By David J Toscano (Salon) / Oct 22, 2022
DeSantis’ feud with Tampa prosecutor Andrew Warren is just the beginning — and it goes well beyond abortion rights
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is consistently up for a fight, apparently in hopes of seizing the mantle of Donald Trump’s divisive politics. His newest opponent is Andrew Warren, the two-time elected local prosecutor of Hillsborough County, Florida, which includes Tampa and has a population of 1.5 million, greater than that of 12 U.S. states. Warren recently joined 90 of his colleagues from across the country who asserted, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, that they would decline to prosecute people who “seek, provide, or support” abortions.
DeSantis branded Warren’s statement a “blatant abuse of power,” and immediately suspended and replaced him. Warren has sued the governor, alleging that his First Amendment rights have been violated. The closely watched case will be tried in November, and predicting the results is perilous. Florida law gives the governor broad removal power “for any . . . good and sufficient reason,” where “the ends of justice would be best served.” But with no actual case having been rejected by Warren, a court might conclude that the prosecutor was simply exercising his right of free speech.
The Supreme Court’s effort to consign Roe v. Wade to the dustbin of history has opened yet another front in the culture wars, but this fissure engages new participants: locally elected prosecutors, some of whom argue that their decisions to decline abortion prosecutions are consistent with a long-established legal principle of “prosecutorial discretion.”
Since the 1830s, when direct election of local prosecutors gained ascendancy, our legal system has embraced the notion that these lawyers are best positioned to exercise sound judgment in handling their cases. They frequently determine who to charge, how cases should be tried and prosecuted, and what sentences a defendant will serve if convicted. The ultimate backstop to this system rests with local citizens, who, in 45 of the 50 states, can vote out chief prosecutors whose decisions run counter to the views of the community they serve. Only three states — Alaska, Delaware and Rhode Island — do not provide for local prosecutorial discretion; in those, the state controls prosecutions.
