TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — An elected Florida prosecutor who was removed from office by Gov. Ron DeSantis because of his positions on abortion and transgender rights filed suit Wednesday to get his job back, saying the Republican leader violated his First Amendment rights.
DeSantis said he suspended Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren this month for signing a national pledge to not prosecute women and doctors for violating state abortion laws or families seeking treatments for transgender minors.
"DeSantis's order does not identify any actual conduct by Warren related to his official duties involving alleged criminal activity for seeking gender affirming healthcare or abortion," the lawsuit said. "DeSantis's order does not identify any other conduct by Warren or other reason sufficient to justify a suspension."
DeSantis, who has come under attack by Democrats for his support of abortion restrictions and bills he's signed that are seen as anti-LGBTQ, held a campaign-like event to announce Warren's suspension, with supporters cheering the decision.
Now seeking re-election in November and positioning himself as a potential 2024 presidential candidate, the governor cited Warren's "neglect of duty" and other alleged violations.
WATCH: DeSantis announces suspension of Warren
Warren was elected in 2016 by Tampa-area voters and re-elected in 2020.
"This morning I filed a suit in federal court to challenge the blatant abuse of power by Gov. DeSantis in suspending me as state attorney," Warren said during a news conference Wednesday morning.
Warren's lawsuit said the suspension was retaliatory after he opposed the governor on a number of issues, including DeSantis' efforts to deny the restoration of voting rights for felons and create new crimes for public protests in response to the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the new abortion restrictions.
"Of course, DeSantis is free to express his views and his disagreements with Warren as often as he likes. Indeed, the federal Constitution ensures that he is," the suit said. "DeSantis went too far."
According to the lawsuit, Warren has an obligation to voters to say where he stands on such issues, and that as a prosecutor, he has the right to decide how the limited resources he has should be used to prosecute crimes. That priority should be on public safety, it said.
"The governor has attacked our democracy, and it should worry everyone," he said. "If the governor's attempt to unilaterally overturn an election is allowed to stand, it threatens to undermine the integrity and outcome of elections across our state for years to come."
WATCH: Andrew Warren announces lawsuit against governor
A DeSantis spokeswoman dismissed the lawsuit in a statement.
"It's not surprising Warren, who was suspending for refusing to follow the law, would file a legally baseless lawsuit challenging his suspension," Taryn Fenske said. "We look forward to responding in court."
Warren's suspension is now an issue in the governor's race as Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the state's only statewide-elected Democrat, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist enter the final week of the primary to see who will challenge DeSantis.
"For this governor to weaponize his office and remove a state attorney — a prosecutor — who has prosecutorial discretion over which cases he brings forward and which he doesn't, this is the overreaching and overstepping of this governor," Fried said at a campaign event Tuesday night. "It is the most dangerous thing to our democracy that we have seen."
