Floridians Protecting Freedom, the group behind the Amendment 4 ballot measure going before voters next month, filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning against Florida officials, alleging officials are engaged in a “campaign to attack Amendment 4 using public resources and government authority.”
The lawsuit is a direct response to the cease-and-desist letters Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) administration officials sent out to TV stations earlier this month, seeking to shut down the airing of advertisements educating voters about Amendment 4 — a proposal on the ballot in Florida this fall that seeks to codify abortion access into the Sunshine State constitution. Abortion is banned after six weeks in Florida currently.
The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division against State Surgeon General and head of the Florida Department of Health Joseph Ladapo in his official capacity and John Wilson, former General Counsel to the Florida Department of Health, in his individual capacity. It argues the defendants violated FPF’s First Amendment rights by threatening sanctions against media organizations for disseminating political advertisements in support of Amendment 4 — a proposal DeSantis opposes — according to the complaint.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has resoundingly held that ‘[g]overnment officials cannot to attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors’ … FPF’s advertisement is pure political speech at the very heart of the First Amendment’s protections,” the complaint said.
“‘[T]he advocacy of a politically controversial viewpoint’ is, in fact, ‘the essence of First Amendment expression.’ … The State’s threatened sanctions against third-party media organizations that host the advertisement—in a heavy-handed effort to silence FPF’s speech—is a classic and deeply disturbing example of unconstitutional coercion.”
Spokespeople for the Florida Department of Health and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for comment.
FPF is seeking an injunction to stop the DeSantis administration “from taking any further actions to coerce, threaten, or intimate repercussions” to stations or other broadcasters for airing the FPF ads or “undertaking enforcement action against FPF for running political advertisements or engaging in other speech protected under the First Amendment,” according to the complaint.
The group behind Amendment 4 is also seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as lawyer’s fees, for what it describes as the administration’s “egregious” and “willful” violation of FPF’s First Amendment rights.
“The state of Florida’s crusade against Amendment 4 is unconstitutional government interference – full stop,” said Lauren Brenzel, “Yes on 4” Campaign Director said in a statement shared with TPM. “The State cannot coerce television stations into removing political speech from the airwaves in an attempt to keep their abortion ban in place.”
“We will continue our campaign in the face of this blatant government interference,” Brenzel added, “but we must remain focused and continue to organize our communities because the choice this November is to either keep a near-total abortion ban with no real exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the woman OR to vote YES on Amendment 4 and limit the government from intervening with private medical decisions.”
FPF’s lawsuit comes just two weeks after the DeSantis administration’s Department of Health sent a letter to some TV stations in the state, suggesting they could face criminal charges for airing ads that encourage voters to support Amendment 4.
The letter, first reported by Florida investigative journalist Jason Garcia, claimed that such ads violate Florida’s “sanitary nuisance” law and suggested stations may be committing a misdemeanor offense by airing them.
The DeSantis administration is now trying to intimidate television stations into taking down ads supporting Amendment 4 – the constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would overturn the near-total abortion ban that Ron DeSantis signed into law last year. pic.twitter.com/XIbCCTUfXQ
— Jason Garcia (@Jason_Garcia) October 5, 2024
Wilson, the former Florida Health Department general counsel named as a defendant in the lawsuit, argued that the advertisement in question, “Caroline”, which was sponsored by FPF’s “Yes on 4” campaign, was disseminating information that is “categorically false” and “dangerous” by saying Florida’s six-week abortion ban threatens the life and well being of pregnant women, according to the letter.
Despite what DeSantis’ Health Department claims, the six-week ban implemented in Florida is vague about protected exceptions. It has been dangerous to the well-being of women and has criminalized certain types of medical care in the state, according to a recent report from Physicians For Human Rights.
The DeSantis administration’s cease-and-desist letter isn’t the first or the only effort from the Republican governor to discourage or intimidate supporters of the abortion-rights amendment.
Last month, The Tampa Bay Times and other local news outlets reported that police were showing up at the homes of Florida residents who signed a petition to help get Amendment 4 on the ballot. Individuals reported being questioned by police about whether they actually signed the petition, according to the news outlet.
Some residents said the plain clothes police officers asked for verification that they signed the petition, claiming they were investigating potential signature fraud. Some said the police even asked for their identification, driver’s licenses or to confirm signatures, according to the Times and reporting from the Miami Herald.
Multiple county officials also confirmed to the Miami Herald last month that they’d been contacted by the Florida Department of State, requesting copies of signatures as well.
And last week, DeSantis’ administration released a report accusing the FPF organizers of committing “widespread petition fraud” in the signature drive to get the initiative on the ballot next month.
The report claims that organizers illegally paid circulators by the number of signatures they collected and submitted a “large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions” to get the amendment on the ballot.
The DeSantis administration also announced a $328,000 fine against the group.
“This campaign has been run above board and followed state law at every turn,” Campaign Director Brenzel told TPM in a statement. “What we are seeing now is nothing more than dishonest distractions and desperate attempts to silence voters.”
DeSantis and his allies have also been spending taxpayer dollars to fight Amendment 4. The DeSantis administration created a state-run website attacking the amendment and they have been running ads promoting the current restrictive law.
Read the complaint here:
