Federal judge condemns DeSantis administration for threats against television stations

new York
CNN
—

“To keep it simple for the state of Florida: It’s the First Amendment, stupid.”

That’s what a federal judge wrote on Thursday when he sided with local television stations in an extraordinary dispute over a television ad for abortion rights.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker of the Northern District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction against Florida’s surgeon general after the state health department threatened to file criminal charges against broadcasters airing the ads.

The controversy stems from a campaign ad by the group Floridians Protecting Freedom, which is behind the Yes on 4 Campaign, promoting a ballot measure aimed at overturning Florida’s six-week abortion ban by enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.

In the 30-second ad, a brain tumor survivor named Caroline says state law would have denied her a life-saving abortion.

“The doctors knew that if I didn’t terminate my pregnancy I would lose my baby, my life and my daughter would lose her mother,” she says on camera. “Florida has now banned abortions, even in cases like mine.”

The state health department — part of the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has aggressively pushed against the abortion amendment — said the claims in the ad were “false” and “dangerous” to public health.

John Wilson, the health department’s general counsel, sent cease-and-desist letters to several television stations that aired the ad. Floridians Protecting Freedom then filed a lawsuit against Wilson and the state’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, saying the threats amounted to “unconstitutional coercion and viewpoint discrimination.”

On Thursday, the judge agreed that the Health Department’s threats amounted to “viewpoint discrimination” and wrote that the group had “a substantial likelihood of, by threatening direct punishment for its political speech, a continuing violation of its First Amendment rights.” -Prove rights”.

The judge’s order, which is valid until October 29, effectively prohibits Ladapo from intimidating local broadcasters over airing the Amendment 4 advertisement.

Walker’s issuance of the injunction comes less than a week after Wilson resigned from his position. In a letter obtained by the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald, Wilson wrote, “A man is nothing without his conscience,” adding, “In recent days it has become clear that I cannot accompany you on the journey which is in front of the agency.” ”

Wilson did not mention the advertising controversy.

The state Department of Health continues to claim that abortion rights are “clearly wrong and harmful to public health in Florida.” Jae Williams, the department’s communications director, told CNN on Thursday that “the media continues to ignore the truth that Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects a mother’s life and provides exceptions for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking.”

Some medical experts have said otherwise. “Florida’s extreme abortion ban has created an unworkable legal landscape that endangers both patients and doctors,” the nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights said in a report last month. The ban “leads to avoidable suffering” and “forces physicians to deviate from established standards of care and medical ethics,” the group said.

The Health Department’s threats were so chilling that WINK, a CBS affiliate, removed the ad from its broadcasts, Florida Politics reported. According to video search service TVEyes, other channels continued to air the ad, some as recently as Thursday evening.

The broadcasters have received support from Jessica Rosenworcel, the FCC’s Democratic chairwoman, who said earlier this month that “threats against broadcasters for broadcasting content that contradicts the government’s views are dangerous and the fundamental principle of free speech.” undermine.”