Ron DeSantis takes on the role of Big Brother against supporters of abortion rights

Florida Governor and national embarrassment Ron DeSantis has found a new and terrifying way to violate his constituents' constitutional rights. DeSantis usually targets Floridians' rights under the 14th Amendment by denying equal protection under the law to gays, transgender people, or readers of books by black authors. But now Governor Rain Boots is targeting the 1st Amendment by using state power to suppress the rights of free speech and free association.

According to multiple reports, DeSantis has used his Department of Election Crimes and Security — a task force he ordered the Florida Legislature to form in 2022 to investigate the false and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud that Republicans like to make when people of color vote in ways they don't like — to target Florida residents in their homes. The action that sparked DeSantis' ire appears to be a petition those residents signed to put Amendment 4 on the November ballot. Amendment 4 would enshrine the right to abortion in Florida's constitution. The amendment is designed to undo what DeSantis did when he signed a six-week abortion ban into law in Florida.

People who have been harassed report that state police officers have shown up at their homes and asked them if they had signed the petition – and then required them to show their ID before they could leave. In at least one case, a person was asked if a family member had signed the petition and warned that the relatives could be “victims” of identity fraud.

The DeSantis administration has taken further steps to undermine the proposed amendment, such as setting up a website filled with misinformation about the amendment and posting a description of the measure on the ballot itself that falsely claims it will hurt the state budget. It's always worth noting that these anti-abortion Republicans are happy to force people to have a child against their will, but are unwilling to do anything to help women with the significant costs of a nine-month pregnancy or 18 years of raising a child.

Ryan Ash, a spokesman for the Florida Department of State, told the Tampa Bay Times that the home visits were necessary because his office had found “evidence of illegal conduct in fraudulent petitions.” He said the investigation – which is looking into whether some signatures were forged – was continuing and that criminal charges would be filed.

So far, no actual evidence of signature fraud has been reported (of course). And DeSantis' track record is pathetic enough to raise serious questions about whether there will be any at all. In 2022, DeSantis' new voter intimidation task force arrested 20 people for alleged voter fraud in Florida in the 2020 election. That's 20 people out of over 11 million votes cast. But here's the kicker: The government was unable to sustain prosecutions against most of the 20 people. It was all a ruse. With these people, it's always a ruse.

The intimidation tactic at play here should be obvious, but since Republicans excel at feigning ignorance, I'll make it clear. Sending police to the homes of people who have signed a ballot petition is one way to discourage people from signing ballot petitions — or voting for the initiative once it's on the ballot. This way, the DeSantis administration can show people that the government knows who they are and that they are being watched by the state.

Inform family members that someone in the family has signed a petition that abortion While human rights violations are also a means of deterring participation, more importantly, they are a concerted attempt by the government to “out” people and potentially make them victims of domestic violence.

What DeSantis is doing should be considered a violation of the First Amendment. He is using the government to suppress the free association of people. If you happened to sign a petition for Amendment 4, the police showed up at your house. However, there are no reports of police harassing people who signed a petition to put Amendment 2 on the ballot in Florida; that amendment would establish a constitutional right to hunt and fish. The DeSantis administration is not investigating voter fraud, they are investigating people who are advocating for reproductive rights, and that should be a violation of the First Amendment.

I say “should” be a violation because…who is going to tell DeSantis? Is a violation of the First Amendment? Normally it would be the courts. But the Florida State Supreme Court is in his pocket. The United States Supreme Court hates reproductive rights more than DeSantis. The fact that DeSantis can do this is another consequence of surrendering the judicial branch of government to Republican supermajorities for a generation.

Even if the courts were not already infested with the cult of forced birth, it would be difficult to bring this case to trial. One could argue that the Justice Department could sue, and should Sue DeSantis and Florida for violating the First Amendment and the Voting Rights Act, because Florida's actions could be construed as voter intimidation. But saying “the Justice Department should sue” is like saying “I should practice meditation techniques and wellness before voting.” That's true, but it's never going to happen. Merrick Garland let DeSantis kidnap migrants and ship them across state lines like unwanted garbage with impunity. He won't do anything to stop it.

The individual voters who were surveyed, or a civil rights organization acting on their behalf, could also potentially sue. But that wouldn't be an easy case. The legal standard in First Amendment cases is whether the government is pursuing its legitimate interests in the “least restrictive” way. I would say that sending cops to people's homes to question them about reproductive rights is not the “minimum” the government could do to detect voter fraud—but I'm not a Republican judge, so my application of normal legal standards literally doesn't matter.

As for the voting rights violations, there are two problems. The first is that the state has a legitimate interest in preventing voter fraud, even if Republicans' claims of voter fraud are almost always unfounded. The second is that most voter intimidation cases are brought when something was done to harass a person while them to vote or prevent them from voting or discourage them from voting at all. I would revisit the argument that pre-vote harassment constitutes voter intimidation, but I am not a Republican who grants Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society their aversion to democratic participation.

All of this means that DeSantis' latest experiment in anti-democratic fascism is likely to continue. The people of Florida continue to vote Republican, and those Republicans continue to use their power to violate the constitutional rights of the people of Florida.

Yet Amendment 4 is on the ballot in Florida in November. If Democrats in that state simply vote for reproductive rights in record numbers, they may also be able to vote out some of the Republicans who are trying to intimidate them. The best way to stop voter intimidation is to not be afraid — and to vote out the bullies.