DeSantis’ lawyers defend accusation of “interference” in abortion law

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's office opposes Florida's abortion rights ballot measure, saying she and Governor Ron DeSantis are exempt from a state law that prohibits them from abusing their “official authority or influence for the purpose of influencing an election.”

This is according to a response from their office on Monday evening to a lawsuit accusing them of abusing their offices by opposing Amendment 4. This law would ensure abortions in Florida if it receives at least 60% of the vote in November.

“The executive branch is well within its rights to express concerns about a proposed amendment to the state's government charter,” Moody's legal team wrote.

In his lawsuit against Moody, DeSantis and Jason Weida, secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, a Lake Worth attorney had asked the Florida Supreme Court to intervene and stop what he said was illegal government interference.

That attorney, Adam Richardson, criticized the AHCA for publishing a webpage criticizing the amendment and then placing a television ad linking to it. Richardson's filing also mentions that the governor's Faith and Community Initiative contacted religious groups to announce a phone call with Moody titled “Your Legal Rights and the Impact of Amendment 4.”

According to the email in question, Moody was also present at the meeting with Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a Christian organization that also opposes gay marriage.

Richardson said the state's actions “are designed to impair the right of the people to decide, free from undue interference by the government, whether or not to agree to a citizen-initiated proposal to amend their constitution.”

He cited a law that prohibits state officials from “abusing their official authority or influence to interfere with an election or appointment or to compel or influence any other person to vote or to affect the outcome of that election.”

But Moody's office said there were procedural problems with the lawsuit and that Richardson had omitted certain sections of the law that exempt Moody, DeSantis and Weida from liability.

“This broad exemption for the state's highest-ranking officials is consistent with the 'right of the state to speak for itself,'” they wrote, citing another case. “The state has the right to say what it wants and to choose the views it wishes to express.”

They also wrote that these measures were not an attempt to influence elections, but rather “good governance.”

Richardson “is free to disagree with the content of the website, but he has no right to stop us from raising serious concerns about the proposed change and the misinformation spread by its proponents,” the document filed Monday said.

Liberty Counsel filed a brief with the court on Monday in support of the state, arguing that DeSantis and Moody had a right to speak under the First Amendment and that the health agency's actions were protected as “government speech.”

“Because the speech in question is government speech, it is not subject to the First Amendment restrictions that apply to regulating private speech,” Liberty Counsel wrote. “The agency's website and Weida's posts are curated by the government to communicate its views on Amendment 4.”

Weida had posted advertisements for the website on social media criticizing the change, a move that was the subject of another lawsuit that is also pending.

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind Florida's abortion rights ballot bill, has sued the Agency for Health Care Administration in state court over its website and advertising. A virtual hearing on the case with Tallahassee-based District Judge Jonathan Sjostrom is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

“Florida’s government has crossed a dangerous line by using public resources to mislead voters and manipulate their choices in the upcoming election,” Michelle Morton, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

The ACLU of Florida and Southern Legal Counsel are representing Floridians Protecting Freedom in this case.

Can't read the above document? Click here.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Douglas Soule, First Amendment reporter for the USA Today Network-Florida, lives in Tallahassee, Florida. He can be reached at [email protected]. On X: @DouglasSoule.

DeSantis’ lawyers defend accusation of “interference” in abortion law

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