Judge Extends Block On DeSantis Admin Anti-Abortion Pressure Campaign As State GOPers Turn On Gov

A federal judge extended the temporary restraining order he issued earlier this month, blocking the head of the Florida Health Department from lobbing any more threats at local TV stations that air advertisements in support of Amendment 4, the proposal on the ballot in Florida next week that would codify abortion rights in the state constitution.

That means that the state surgeon general and head of the Florida Department of Health Joseph Ladapo will not be able to take any further action to intimidate television stations for airing the commercial, through Election Day. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker handed down the decision during a hearing on Tuesday when he heard arguments from attorneys for state officials and Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the abortion ballot measure. Walker said he would make a decision about whether to issue a preliminary injunction — which FPF is requesting — by November 12 when the extended restraining order expires, or sooner.

FPF Campaign Director Lauren Brenzel sent TPM a statement in response to Walker’s latest decision siding with the group:

“While this case isn’t over, this second ruling is once again a critical victory for every Floridian who believes in democracy and the sanctity of the First Amendment. One again, the court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: the government cannot silence the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban. It’s a deadly ban that puts women’s lives at risk. This ruling continues to remind us that Floridians will not back down in the face of government intimidation.”

As TPM has reported, Walker initially issued the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit filed by FPF seeking to halt just one layer of the DeSantis administration’s taxpayer-funded intimidation campaign against Amendment 4. In addition to the cease-and-desist letters to TV stations, suggesting broadcasters could face criminal charges for airing the ads, the DeSantis administration has used taxpayer dollars and state resources to advocate against the measure that, if passed, would eliminate the state’s six-week abortion ban.

The DeSantis administration has also used state resources to create a state-run website attacking the amendment and has even deployed law enforcement to question supporters of the ballot measure. In September, multiple Florida newspapers reported that plain clothes police officers were showing up at the homes of Florida residents who signed the petition to help get Amendment 4 on the ballot, questioning them about their signatures and claiming to be investigating fraud. Additionally, earlier this month, the administration released a report claiming that FPF had committed “widespread petition fraud” as part of its effort to collect signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

The governor’s office announced a fine against FPF in recent weeks and even tried to get the state legislature to investigate the group. Even the Florida Department of Health’s former General Counsel John Wilson — who was initially listed as a defendant in FPF’s lawsuit, alongside Ladapo — said in a sworn affidavit that he resigned over the ways in which the DeSantis administration directed him to handle the drafting and sending of the cease-and-desist letters to TV stations.

The unabashed use of state resources to go after a political amendment has even some of the most influential state Republicans distancing themselves from DeSantis’ police state-esque project of intimidation. Here’s state Sen. Joe Gruters, the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, speaking to Politico in a piece out this week:

“No matter where you stand on an issue, this is still a democracy, and in a democracy, we do not spend taxpayer dollars in advance of a political issue,” he said. “Tax dollars are meant to be spent on our police, schools, roads and other public programs that make our state great, not for political agendas.”