Editorial Roundup: Florida
Orlando Sentinel. September 10, 2023.
Editorial: Prosecutor Worrell blasts back at DeSantis’ suspension – and scores
Time and again, Gov. Ron DeSantis has gotten away with actions that few other governors would even consider. Among them: Vendettas against other elected officials that he pursues with the lethal enmity of a Mafia don.
When he set his sights on 9th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Monique Worrell, he’d already ejected one duly elected prosecutor — Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren —from office. It was a move that a federal judge decried as blatantly illegal (but said he was powerless to stop).
The governor’s lengthy justification of Worrell’s suspension was tailored to address many of the issues U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle listed in that fiery, despairing order and even the challenge Warren filed at the Florida Supreme Court level.
But now Worrell has fired back with a lawsuit that exposes the many factual inconsistencies in the governor’s suspension order. She takes devastating aim at the central assumptions DeSantis uses to buttress his wobbly argument. And she elbows aside the weak reasoning the Florida Supreme Court used as it shuffled Warren’s complaint aside.
When DeSantis first suspended Worrell, we said she was well-capable of defending herself. She’s proven that beyond the shadow of a doubt.
A prosecutor’s job
DeSantis’ order reels off a procession of statistics that he uses to accuse her of “neglect of duty” and “incompetence,” including conviction rates for homicides, sexual batteries and other serious violent crimes. In each of those categories, there are other circuits where prosecutors post lower rates, Worrell said in a Thursday press conference. Meanwhile, DeSantis failed to cite specific policies Worrell enacted, or how they relate to those conviction rates.
That’s because there are none, she says. Her office evaluated each case on its own merits. But the parade of statistics is irrelevant, because Worrell’s prime duty as a prosecutor is not to maximize convictions. It’s to seek a just outcome in every case her office handles — one that considers the strength of the evidence in each case, the potential that an accused person’s rights have been violated and other factors.
That’s where her argument hits hardest. In blasting her decisions, DeSantis is taking aim at a core component of a state attorney’s job: A concept known as “prosecutorial discretion.”
This requires a basic review of arrests that require prosecution, including all felonies and some misdemeanors. Prosecutors have the sole power to determine which charges should be formally pursued. They are also responsible for evaluating the strength of the evidence behind each case, because while police only have to establish probable cause to arrest someone, the prosecutor will eventually have to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. This review is critical to the American system of justice, because while prosecutors often work closely with law enforcement, their discretion allows them to be a critical backstop against abuse of police power.
That sets up an inevitable conflict. It’s not uncommon for police agencies to disagree with prosecutors’ decisions. DeSantis has adroitly exploited that, setting local law-enforcement leaders against both of the suspended prosecutors. From what we can see, that tactic is working. But DeSantis operatives have been caught lying before, and it would not surprise us to learn that strategic falsehood has played a significant role in those apparently fractured alliances.
My way or the highway
The bottom line is this: Voters who elected Worrell to head the Circuit 9 prosecutor’s office (which includes Orange and Osceola counties) knew she favored a model of prosecuting that puts a heavy emphasis on rehabilitation and violence prevention, with alternatives such as diversion for less-serious offenders and careful consideration of decisions to move juvenile offenders into adult court. With experience as the former head of the Ninth Circuit’s Conviction Integrity Unit, Worrell came into office understanding the factors that could lead to the worst outcomes of all — cases where an innocent person ends up in prison for a crime they did not commit.
“As state attorney, I promised to seek justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly — and that is exactly what I have and will continue to do,” she says.
Voters who were paying attention knew all this, and made it overwhelmingly clear that they wanted Worrell in office — she won election with more than 66% of votes cast. DeSantis may disagree with her style of prosecution. In fact, he seems to take issue with the idea that she should exercise any discretion at all. But Worrell doesn’t work for him, and her failure to adopt his prosecutorial philosophy doesn’t meet the legal requirement for removing her from office.
In essence, he suspended her for doing her job. That’s such a ridiculous over-reach that the most biased observers should be able to see it.
It’s ‘governor,’ not ’emperor’
DeSantis seems increasingly convinced that his wishes and whims should govern each decision that every elected official in Florida makes — starting with the Florida Legislature.
That imperious arrogance has also breached the revered independence of Florida’s judicial branch.
Which is why Worrell’s complaint might be doomed anyway. The state Supreme Court is packed: Five of the seven justices are DeSantis nominees, most of whom were elevated to the court despite a glaring lack of experience. Of the remaining two, one (Charles Canady) has proven to be one of the governor’s staunchest allies. While DeSantis routinely loses cases at the federal level, the state court has been far more indulgent of his whims.
In this case, however, the governor’s abuse is so egregious, so obvious that even his hand-picked acolytes will (may) have trouble denying it. Even if they do, Worrell’s ultimate fate is in the hands of voters. She’s already filed for re-election.
For now, however, she’s offered an excellent illumination of just how far DeSantis is willing to go. In that, she retains the status she always claimed: That of public servant, defending the rights of Ninth Circuit residents just as capably as she defends herself.
There are words for times like these, words crafted by one of this nation’s most revered poets.
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Worrell may be out, for now. But she is not down. This time, finally, DeSantis may have picked the wrong fight.
Above excerpt is from the poem “And Still I Rise,” copyright 1973 by Maya Angelou.
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Miami Herald. September 12, 2023.
Editorial: Florida suppresses Black history, but a ‘Green Book’ Miami site is a way to fight back
An interesting thing happened at the Historic Hampton House in Miami’s Brownsville neighborhood after Florida started attacking the way Black history is taught in public schools: A lot more people started visiting the museum.
Visitors were up by at least 30% over the summer compared to last year, the executive director told the Editorial Board. Private schools, churches, families, civic groups and individuals — and not solely African Americans — have been showing up in rising numbers for tours of the Hampton House, a symbol of Black history in Miami.
Of course, there were always plenty of reasons to go there. Historic Hampton House is a “Green Book” motel, on a list of places where Black motorists could safely stay in the Jim Crow South, and it’s been restored to look much as it did in its heyday. The building itself exudes cool, with striking Miami Modern architecture that was saved from destruction by dedicated community members, led by preservationist Enid C. Pinkney, and money from Miami-Dade County.
And the inn has a fascinating and important history. In the “Rat Pack” era of the ’50s and ’60s, it’s where Black performers and famous athletes who couldn’t stay on segregated Miami Beach headed for a glamorous night — people like Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Robinson, Berry Gordy, Althea Gibson and Nat King Cole.
More recently, it served as the setting for the 2020 film “One Night in Miami,” a fictionalized 1964 meeting of boxing legend Cassius Clay (before he became Muhammad Ali), civil-rights activist Malcolm X, football star Jim Brown and singer Sam Cooke. The movie (and stage play before it) is a lively discussion of race and politics in the United States.
But now there’s a new reason to go. In light of today’s politics in Florida, more people are interested in a place that educates visitors about Black history. That’s encouraging. A post-pandemic rush might account for some rise in numbers, but there’s also something much more significant going on. People are seeking out the information that the state is denying them.
Attack on minorities
That’s down to Gov. Ron DeSantis and his systematic marginalization of minorities, including African Americans. This summer, he continued to defend an “anti-woke” public school curriculum that says middle-school students should be taught the incredibly offensive idea that slavery had an upside — “slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” And that came right after his administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African-American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it violates state law, was historically inaccurate and lacked “educational value.”
The state, through the actions of DeSantis and the Legislature, is attempting to marginalize the Black community as the governor continues his all-consuming quest to be president. But places like Historic Hampton House show just how important that history is.
Clay did, in fact, stay there after his upset victory over Sonny Liston at Miami Beach’s Convention Hall on Feb. 25, 1964. His (surprisingly small) suite has been reconstructed for museum visitors today. And the restored coffee shop in the 50-room motel, with a Caribbean mural on the wall and yellow vinyl stools, was the location for a famous photo that shows Malcolm X behind the counter, snapping his own picture of Clay after the big win.
Martin Luther King, Jr., stayed At Hampton House, too, and reportedly gave an earlier version of his famous “I Have a Dream” speech during a Hampton House event. A wonderful photo in the room where he stayed shows him in swim trunks in the middle of the Hampton House pool, a rare moment of respite.
Jacqui Colyer, executive director of the Historic Hampton House, remembers what it was like. She grew up in Miami and tells a story of learning that Jackie Wilson would be singing at Hampton House. That Sunday, she told her mother she was going to church, stopped at the church for a moment and then “hightailed it to Hampton House.” The 14-year-old was allowed to peek in and listen to the famous singer croon “Lonely Teardrops” before she was sent home again.
The work at Historic Hampton House isn’t finished. The non-profit that runs the place still needs about $2 million. There’s more restoration to be completed and programs to be developed that could make it self-sustaining. But in other ways, the museum and cultural center is fulfilling its purpose right now, far more than we ever thought would be necessary. If teachers can’t teach children about the importance of Black history, places like Historic Hampton Houseare helping to fill the void. Floridians can, and should, seek out other Black history sites, too, wherever they live.
It’s not a solution, but it’s something of a work-around. For now.
When a new generation visits the motel-turned-museum, Colyer wants them to see beyond the building. “I just want them to know the rich tradition and history of the Historic Hampton House and of the Brownsville community, and how great people walked the halls of this facility and walked the streets of this community,” she said. “Their contributions should not be forgotten or neglected.”
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Palm Beach Post. September 10, 2023.
Editorial: How the anti-election-fraud Governor cheated Florida voters
A circuit court judge in Tallahassee last Saturday ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ redrawing of congressional districts in 2022 was unconstitutional, “by diminishing the ability of Black voters in North Florida to elect representatives of their choice.”
That was the right ruling — calling out Florida for racist politics — but it came more than a year late. In the time it took the courts to field the complaints about DeSantis’ gerrymandering and order it undone, a congressional election came and went and its results stood, even though they were the product of cheating.
Of course that had to have been part of DeSantis’ calculus all along, taken straight from the what’s-the-worst-that-can-happen school of governing. Even if the action gets cancelled eventually, in the meantime the Governor gets to deprive people of color the full power of their votes for more than a year, benefiting the congressional GOP caucus and presidential candidate DeSantis’ standing with his base of red state warriors.
The Florida GOP used this maneuver before. Its 2010 redistricting also was found illegal. It took some three years for the courts to force those lines to be redrawn. In the wake of that atrocity, though, Florida voters approved The Fair Districts Amendments to the Florida Constitution to make sure it didn’t happen again. But it did anyway. The South rose again.
Keep in mind that this flatly unconstitutional skewing of our elections was orchestrated by the same Governor who created an election fraud police force, while also in effect instituting a new poll tax, denying ex-inmates the right to vote if they had outstanding fines, fees or other debts, whether or not they had the ability to pay. He’s also the same guy who has supported restrictions on absentee voting, ballot box use and ballot collections, all in the name of democracy.
Even someone who’s not an Ivy League lawyer like our Governor should understand the plain English of the Fair Districts Amendments. In establishing congressional district boundaries, the law says, “No apportionment plan or individual district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice....”
Yet that’s exactly what Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh ruled was done, in the state’s “dismantling a congressional district that enabled black voters to elect candidates of their choice.” Marsh ordered the DeSantis district map thrown out and a new one drawn by the Florida Legislature that follows the law.
The plaintiffs in the case included the Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Equal Ground Education Fund and the League of Women Voters of Florida Education Fund, among several others.
“This is not only a win for African Americans whose voting strength was diluted unfairly when maps, pushed by the governor and forced into law by our state legislature, were enacted, but also a win for all Floridians who voted to ensure their state government cannot silence the votes and voices of its own citizens,” said Cecile Scoon, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Florida.
The decision came at roughly the same time that an Alabama ruling also came down, undoing a redistricting scheme that would have marginalized Black voters there. In that case, a panel of three federal judges struck down Alabama’s congressional redistricting for not following their order to comply with the landmark Voting Rights Act. The state is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Tallahassee ruling, sadly, also is on hold, pending an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Once again, justice delayed is justice denied to Florida voters. Gov. DeSantis cheated and got away with it, for as long as he gets away with it, and Florida and the entire United States are the losers as a result.
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South Florida Sun Sentinel. September 12, 2023.
Editorial: A sign of hope as court strikes racial gerrymander
The congressional map that a Florida judge emphatically overturned last week was more than the usual cynical partisan gerrymander.
It was worse.
Designed and imposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the scheme openly defied the Florida Constitution he swore to “support, protect and defend.” To make legislators enact it, he had vetoed their plan, which no governor had done before.
To defend his gerrymander, lawyers for Secretary of State Cord Byrd and the Legislature had to argue against the Florida Constitution — also unprecedented.
Turning back the clock
As intended, the DeSantis scheme unseated Democratic Rep. Al Lawson of Tallahassee and left North Florida without a Black representative in Congress for the first time in since 1991. It split Lawson’s minority constituents among four districts dominated by Republicans.
Thanks to Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh of Tallahassee, Lawson’s old Jacksonville to Tallahassee District 5, or something similar, will likely be back on the ballot in 2024. And perhaps Lawson or another Democrat will return to Congress, narrowing the Republican Party’s razor-thin House majority.
Marsh’s ruling was a major victory for voting rights as well as vindication of the Fair Districts initiatives that more than 3 million voters placed into the Florida Constitution in 2010. A fair number of Republicans had to have voted for those two proposals, since they won by nearly 63%.
For DeSantis to win this case on appeal, the Supreme Court will have to strike down those amendments against the will of the majority of Floridians.
Waiting on the Legislature
Much still depends on how soon or whether the Legislature complies with Marsh’s order to draw a new map and how the Florida Supreme Court handles the state’s expected appeal. If the Legislature doesn’t act, both sides had agreed in advance that the judge could impose a map himself. For now, Byrd is forbidden to use the present map for any election.
Marsh’s 55-page opinion repeatedly cites previous Supreme Court decisions applying the Fair Districts amendments, including the one that established District 5 almost a decade ago. Since then, however, most of the justices who decided those cases have retired, the court has overturned many of their other precedents, and five of seven current justices are DeSantis appointees.
The court did turn down a request from DeSantis last year to issue an advisory opinion that he hoped would undercut the old District 5 and the Fair Districts amendments. The court said the request was premature and necessitated statistical evidence that it did not have.
There’s plenty of evidence in Marsh’s order.
Cannot ‘favor or disfavor’
The Fair Districts amendments prohibit any plan drawn to “favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent,” or enacted with the intent of denying, abridging or diminishing the opportunity of racial or language minorities to elect representatives of their choice.
The DeSantis gerrymander drastically diminished Black voting power.
Lawyers for the House, Senate and Secretary of State Byrd maintained that the old District 5 was itself a racial gerrymander prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and in conflict with the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Marsh disagreed, ruling not only that District 5 was consistent with the Constitution and the VRA, but also that Byrd and the Legislature had no legal standing to contest it.
“They have failed to show that they have personally suffered an injury,” he wrote.
That was an ironic echo of the argument that public officials often make to turn away citizens’ lawsuits over voter suppression.
Turning to Florida’s Constitution, Marsh recited pertinent history.
“By voting to adopt new constitutional provisions that mirror the text of the VRA, Floridians expressed their belief that Florida was home to the sort of the racial discrimination that justified and required the VRA in the national context and that a similar civil rights structure was required to stamp it out at home,” he wrote.
“Florida’s history of voting related discrimination — as told through Florida case law over the years — bears out this need.”
Second suit is pending
A companion lawsuit is pending in the federal district court at Tallahassee, scheduled for trial Sept. 26.
Both the state and federal cases bode poorly for DeSantis in the light of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions requiring Louisiana and Alabama to redraw their congressional maps to provide for more Black representation.
Openly defiant, the Alabama Legislature enacted a noncompliant map. A three-judge federal court overseeing the case took the matter out of the Legislature’s hands and assigned a special master to redistrict Alabama.
Both Supreme Court rulings affirm in effect that it is constitutional to require states with histories of discrimination — a description that also fits Florida — to establish districts that give minorities a realistic opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.
Nothing that Florida ever did on redistricting was more racially discriminatory than the DeSantis gerrymander. Nothing has been more right than Marsh’s decision to strike it down.
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