'Comically unconstitutional': Analyst shreds Ron DeSantis' threat to criminalize speech

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' latest bid to try to suppress the ballot referendum campaign to restore abortion rights in his state is "comically unconstitutional," a legal reporter wrote for Slate.

The campaign has already seen intimidation, as some people who signed petitions to approve the measure, Amendment 4, have been questioned by police. But DeSantis has now escalated dramatically, with his Department of Health threatening in a letter to prosecute TV stations that air ads in favor of the amendment for "sanitary nuisance" — a law intended to apply to physical pollution hazards like improperly sealed septic tanks, which would subject employees of the TV stations to up to 60 days in jail.

This is a blatant attack on the First Amendment, wrote reporter Mark Joseph Stern.

"The agency claims that the advertisement in question is 'false' and 'dangerous' because it informs viewers that the state’s six-week ban imperils the life and health of pregnant women," he wrote. "But it is demonstrably true that Florida’s ban jeopardizes the well-being of women. Moreover, even if the ad exaggerated these harms — indeed, even if it were arguably false — it would still receive bulletproof First Amendment protections. And TV stations would have an insurmountable constitutional shield against any punishment for airing it."

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The Department asserted that the ad, which featured a woman named Caroline who needed an abortion to get chemotherapy for a life-threatening brain tumor, was false because the state's ban allows abortions for “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”

In practice, doctors are afraid to make exceptions under the threat of a five-year prison sentence, so even women who qualify can struggle to get treatment.

None of this came from out of the blue, wrote Stern, as DeSantis "has committed a head-spinning number of First Amendment violations since assuming office in 2019."

"A brief, partial sampling: A conservative appeals court struck down one of his signature laws, the STOP Woke Act, to ban speech about diversity in the workplace. A conservative judge invalidated two laws signed by the governor that would censor speech about ballot initiatives (like Amendment 4). A different conservative judge found that he unlawfully retaliated against pro-choice speech," wrote Stern.

Even former President Donald Trump himself has remarked that DeSantis' six-week ban, which applies before most women even know they're pregnant, is "too short" — although he also said he would vote against Amendment 4, falsely claiming that it would allow the execution of babies after birth.