A Florida supervision under the leadership of Ron DeSantis on Thursday received a federal court order to stop disturbing television stations with criminal charges for airing a democratic ad supporting the state’s constitutional amendment.
After the state health department threatened to prosecute presenters who were airing the campaign, key US district judge Mark E. Walker of the Northern District of Florida issued a temporary restraining order against the state’s doctors standard.
Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee claimed in a statement on CNN that the Florida office of health’s threats to facilities across the position amounts to “unconstitutional force” and “viewpoint bias.”
Judge Walker wrote in his 17-page order that the state” may excuse its indirect repression of political discourse by simply declaring the disfavored talk is “false.”
” To keep it plain for the state of Florida: it’s the First Amendment, stupid”, he added.
Floridians Protecting Freedom, the organization behind the” Yes on 4″ campaign for an abortion-rights ballot measure known as Amendment 4, filed a lawsuit against the order.
The country’s health department had previously sent cease-and-desist words to a number of television channels, urging them to prevent airing an ad titled” Caroline,” in which a woman named Caroline Williams discusses her examination of step four brain cancer while she was 20 months pregnant. In the ad, Ms. Williams states,” Florida has now banned abortion even in cases like mine”. The state called the ad “false”, and at least one station stopped airing it after receiving the department’s letter.
Lauren Brenzel, the director of the” Yes on 4″ campaign, praised the court’s decision, calling it” a triumph for every Floridian who believes in democracy and the sanctity of the First Amendment”. She emphasized that the government cannot keep the truth about Florida’s extreme abortion ban.
Governor Ron DeSantis has used state authority to oppose Amendment 4, which has resulted in a number of legal challenges. While courts had previously declined to intervene, Judge Walker’s order was met with criticism from the governor’s office. Julia Friedland, Mr. DeSantis’s deputy press secretary, claimed that the ads are false and put the lives and health of pregnant women at risk, asserting that Florida’s heartbeat protection law always protects the life of a mother and includes exceptions for victims of rape, incest, and human trafficking.
A hearing is scheduled for October 29 and the campaign is requesting a preliminary injunction against the state. In state court, two separate lawsuits are currently pending from Amendment 4 opponents, requesting the measure be removed from the ballot.
