Gov. Ron DeSantis’ sweeping agenda is increasingly running aground in the courtroom.
The decision by a federal judge Sunday to block DeSantis’ ban on vaccination passports for Norwegian Cruise Lines is just the latest judicial setback for the Florida governor on issues ranging from his touted Big Tech anti-censorship law to the so-called “John Morgan law” that would have severely curtailed funding for ballot measures.
Critics say those and others were just red meat for the right-wing GOP base in advance of DeSantis’ reelection run next year and his designs on the White House in 2024. But one expert said whether they’re enforced might not matter politically.
“A big motivation was just to score political points, and to show potential Republican voters that he was a governor that’s willing to fight for principles and policies that Republican Trump supporters seem to like,” said Aubrey Jewett, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida. “And whether they would actually be upheld and be constitutional was in large part beside the point.”
Sunday’s order by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted Norwegian a preliminary injunction against the Florida law, pushed by DeSantis following an initial executive order, that bans private businesses from creating any vaccination requirement for customers.
Williams wrote that Norwegian was likely to succeed in their lawsuit against the law based on its argument that it was “blocking or hampering the operation of cruise lines in and out of Florida ... excessively burden[ing] the free flow of commerce between States and between Nations.”
The state has said it would appeal the ruling.
“We disagree with the judge’s legal reasoning,’' DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw said in a statement. “A prohibition on vaccine passports does not even implicate, let alone violate, anyone’s speech rights, and it furthers the substantial, local interest of preventing discrimination among customers based on private health information.”
The injunction came just days after it was announced that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wouldn’t appeal the federal court ruling that blocked a new law capping donations to political committees pushing ballot measures at just $3,000.
Dubbed the “John Morgan law” after the Orlando attorney’s successful backing of medical marijuana and minimum wage amendments to the tune of millions of dollars, the decision paves the way for big-name sports betting companies to move forward with a multimillion-dollar campaign to broaden sports betting, among other initiatives.
DeSantis’ much-touted Big Tech law against purported social media censorship of conservatives also was blocked by a federal judge with a preliminary injunction in June.
A hearing is set in a lawsuit against the state’s controversial “anti-riot” law, which critics charge violates the First Amendment right of freedom of assembly. And key DeSantis priorities such as the transgender sports ban and the elections law have also drawn a flood of lawsuits.
Pushaw said that no matter how long it takes, the governor believes the state will eventually prevail.
“Gov. DeSantis is confident in the legal basis for the legislation that he has signed and ultimately expects victories in court, even if the process takes time,” Pushaw said. “He will continue standing up for the rights of all Floridians.”
Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, who has long argued that many of the laws currently tied up in court will ultimately be overturned, paraphrased Republican state Rep. Randy Fine’s comment on a bill adding more strings to a federal grant program.
Asked during a debate why Republicans were pushing a controversial measure, Fine replied, “because we can.”
“It begs the question, why are they doing this?” Smith said. “And they’ve already given us the answer: ‘Because we can.’ That’s the governing philosophy. So we can see how arrogant Florida Republicans have become. They’re drunk with power.
“And they’re backed up by a new conservative majority in the Florida Supreme Court,’' Smith added. “So they think they can do whatever they want, however they want whenever they want.”
Jewett said although political motivations have played a role, DeSantis’ backing of the controversial bills isn’t necessarily cynical.
“We never truly know what is in people’s hearts and minds,” Jewett said. “I’m sure at least in some of those cases, he sincerely believed they were the right thing to do. Those were the things that he believed in, and that a lot of his supporters believe in.”
But, he added, “There was a lot of evidence that most of these bills would not be upheld. The Legislature’s staff sometimes said it, sometimes the legislators themselves said it, even when voting yes on the bill.”
Fine questioned whether the Big Tech bill, which prevents social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter from removing any state political candidate no matter what they post, could provide a loophole for “crazy people, Nazis and child molesters and pedophiles” to flourish on those platforms if they file to run for office. Yet, he voted for the bill anyway.
State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, was stripped of his position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee for opposing the anti-riot bill, the John Morgan law and aspects of the election law.
Brandes could not be reached for comment Monday.
“So it wasn’t just Democratic critics,” Jewett said. “It was even Republicans and neutral staffers who were often saying that these bills were questionable at best.”
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