Court Opinion

ID: 9404167
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-06-22 15:04:58.442842+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:20:11.824840
License: Public Domain

Supreme Court of Florida
                             ____________

                          No. SC2023-0247
                            ____________

                       ANDREW H. WARREN,
                           Petitioner,

                                  vs.

                   RON DESANTIS, GOVERNOR,
                          Respondent.

                           June 22, 2023

CANADY, J.

     On August 4, 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis issued Executive

Order 22-176 suspending Petitioner Andrew H. Warren, the elected

State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit of the State of

Florida, on the grounds of “neglect of duty” and “incompetence.”

More than six months later, Petitioner filed a petition in this Court

arguing that the Governor lacked authority to issue the Executive

Order and requesting the issuance of a writ of quo warranto

directed to the Governor and alternatively seeking a writ of

mandamus commanding the Governor to reinstate him. After the
filing of the petition, our Court sought briefing from the parties,

which concluded on May 4, 2023. We agree with the Governor that

the petition should be denied on the ground of unreasonable delay.1

     Within two weeks of his suspension, Petitioner filed suit in

federal district court seeking, among other things, a writ of quo

warranto on the ground that the suspension order was facially

insufficient under Florida law. Quite predictably, the federal

district court promptly dismissed that state-law claim after

concluding that the Eleventh Amendment to the United States

Constitution barred that claim from being brought in federal court.

See Pennhurst State Sch. & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89 (1984).

Petitioner then waited almost five months before finally petitioning

this Court and requesting our “expeditious review” of his state-law

claim. Petitioner offers no explanation for the delay. We conclude

that, under the circumstances of this case, the time for our review

has passed.

      1. Under article V, section 3(b)(8) of the Florida Constitution,
this Court “[m]ay issue writs of mandamus and quo warranto to
state officers and state agencies.”

                                 -2-
                                   I.

     Article IV, section 7 of the Florida Constitution grants “the

governor” the power to “suspend from office any state officer not

subject to impeachment” and enumerates the grounds for

suspension, including “neglect of duty” and “incompetence.” Art.

IV, § 7(a), Fla. Const. 2 A suspension is done “[b]y executive order

stating the grounds and filed with the custodian of state records.”

Id. Article IV, section 7 then grants “[t]he senate” the power to, “in

proceedings prescribed by law, remove from office or reinstate the

suspended official.” Art. IV, § 7(b), Fla. Const.

     Although the text of article IV, section 7 does not attribute any

role to the courts in suspension matters, our precedents recognize a

narrow judicial role in reviewing the face of a suspension order to

determine if it satisfies the constitutional requirement of “ ‘stating

the grounds’ of the officer’s suspension.” Israel v. Desantis, 269 So.

3d 491, 495 (Fla. 2019) (quoting art. IV, § 7(a), Fla. Const.). That is

a “limited” role that entails no more than “determining whether the

      2. As a “state officer not subject to impeachment,” art. IV, §
7(a), Fla. Const., Petitioner falls within the scope of the Governor’s
suspension power.

                                  -3-
executive order, on its face, sets forth allegations of fact relating to

one of the constitutionally enumerated grounds of suspension.” Id.

(citing State ex rel. Hardie v. Coleman, 155 So. 129, 133 (Fla.

1934)). The allegations need only “bear some reasonable relation to

the charge made against the officer.” Id. at 496 (quoting Hardie,

155 So. at 133). The “some reasonable relation” standard is “a low

threshold” to satisfy, id., and the executive order need only satisfy it

“on the whole,” id. (quoting Hardie, 155 So. at 133).

     Indeed, we have previously said that the courts are not a

“check upon any erroneous [suspension] action on [the governor’s]

part,” including “[a]ny mere error of judgment, whether free from or

attended by improper motive.” State ex rel. Lamar v. Johnson, 11

So. 845, 852 (Fla. 1892). Our constitution has instead “made the

senate the sole check upon any erroneous action on [the governor’s]

part.” Id.; see Hardie, 155 So. at 134 (“The matter of reviewing the

[suspension] charges and the evidence to support them is solely in

the discretion of the Senate . . . .”); State ex rel. Kelly v. Sullivan, 52

So. 2d 422, 425 (Fla. 1951) (“It is the function of the Senate, and

never that of the Courts, to review the evidence upon which the

Governor suspends an officer . . . .”).

                                   -4-
                                  II.

     The August 4, 2022, Executive Order suspending Petitioner for

“neglect of duty” and “incompetence” cites as the factual basis for

the suspension two Joint Statements signed by Petitioner and other

elected prosecutors from around the country, 3 as well as two

presumptive non-enforcement policies purportedly instituted by

Petitioner.

     In the first Joint Statement, the signatories “pledge[d]” to,

among other things, “use [their] discretion and not promote the

criminalization of gender-affirming healthcare or transgender

people.” In the second Joint Statement, the signatories asserted

that, among other things, they “decline to use [their] offices’

resources to criminalize reproductive health decisions and commit

to exercise [their] well-settled discretion and refrain from

prosecuting those who seek, provide, or support abortions.”

     Regarding Petitioner’s two policies, the Executive Order

describes the first as a policy “of presumptive non-enforcement for

     3. Petitioner signed the Joint Statements as “Andrew Warren”
“State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit (Tampa), Florida.”

                                 -5-
certain criminal violations, including trespassing at a business

location, disorderly conduct, disorderly intoxication, and

prostitution.” The Executive Order describes the second as a policy

“against prosecuting crimes where the initial encounter between law

enforcement and the defendant results from a non-criminal

violation in connection with riding a bicycle or a pedestrian

violation,” including “crimes of misdemeanor resisting arrest

without violence—for example, fleeing from a law enforcement

officer.”

      After addressing the Joint Statements and policies, the

Executive Order concludes that Petitioner’s “avowed refusal to

enforce certain criminal laws on a non-individualized, category-wide

basis of his choosing is a neglect of duty in violation of his oath of

office.” The Executive Order explains that the “neglect of duty is not

excused by prosecutorial discretion, because [Petitioner’s] blanket

policies ensure that he will exercise no discretion at all in entire

categories of criminal cases.” The Executive Order also concludes

that Petitioner’s “public proclamations of non-enforcement further

demonstrate his incompetence and lack of judgment arising from

his gross ignorance of his official duties.”

                                  -6-
                                 III.

     Because Petitioner’s unreasonable delay ultimately forms the

basis for our decision to deny his petition, we review the more-than-

six-month gap between Petitioner’s suspension and his filing of the

instant petition, and we briefly examine the federal district court

proceedings which constitute the backdrop for Petitioner’s dilatory

conduct and on which Petitioner primarily relies in attacking the

suspension.

     On August 17, 2022—only thirteen days after his

suspension—Petitioner filed suit against the Governor in the United

States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Petitioner

sought injunctive and declaratory relief, including a preliminary

injunction. Petitioner raised two claims. Claim I alleged a violation

of the First Amendment, specifically that the Joint Statements were

protected speech and that suspending Petitioner because he signed

the Joint Statements was retaliation for Petitioner exercising his

First Amendment rights. Claim II sought a writ of quo warranto

“under Florida State Law” and alleged that the bases for suspension

did not reasonably relate to either “incompetence” or “neglect of

duty” and thus were “facially insufficient.” The Governor filed a

                                 -7-
consolidated motion to dismiss and response in opposition to the

motion for preliminary injunction.

     On September 29, 2022, the federal district court entered an

order that in relevant part dismissed without prejudice Petitioner’s

state-law claim and allowed only the First Amendment claim to

proceed. Warren v. DeSantis, No. 4:22cv302-RH-MAF, 2022 WL

6250952, at *1 (N.D. Fla. Sept. 29, 2022). The federal district court

unsurprisingly dismissed Petitioner’s state-law claim on Eleventh

Amendment grounds. See Pennhurst, 465 U.S. at 121 (“A federal

court must examine each claim in a case to see if the court’s

jurisdiction over that claim is barred by the Eleventh

Amendment. . . . [A] claim that state officials violated state law in

carrying out their official responsibilities is a claim against the State

that is protected by the Eleventh Amendment.”).

     Four months later, on January 20, 2023, the federal district

court entered an order that “dismissed on the merits with

prejudice” Petitioner’s First Amendment claim and that “direct[ed]

entry of judgment for the Governor.” Warren v. DeSantis, 29 Fla. L.

Weekly Fed. D115, D115, D125 (N.D. Fla. Jan. 20, 2023), appeal

docketed, No. 23-10459 (11th Cir. argued May 2, 2023). The

                                  -8-
federal district court ultimately concluded that the Governor would

have suspended Petitioner based solely on factors that are not

protected by the First Amendment and, as a result, that Petitioner

was not entitled to any relief. Id. at D125.

     Inexplicably, despite having previously dismissed Petitioner’s

state-law claim—a claim that challenged the facial sufficiency of the

suspension order—the federal district court proceeded to reach

various “conclusions” regarding the propriety of the suspension

under Florida law. Indeed, the federal district court twice stated

that the suspension “violated the Florida Constitution,” id. at D115,

D125, and the federal district court purported to decide certain

“factual issue[s],” including whether “Mr. Warren neglected his duty

or was incompetent,” id. at D117. The federal district court did so

even though its “jurisdiction over [Petitioner’s state-law] claim [was]

barred by the Eleventh Amendment,” Pennhurst, 465 U.S. at 121,

and even though “[i]t is the function of the [Florida] Senate, and

never that of the Courts, to review the evidence upon which the

Governor suspends an officer,” Sullivan, 52 So. 2d at 425. At one

point, the federal district court challenged the Governor to “simply

rescind the suspension.” Warren, 29 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. at D124.

                                 -9-
And at another point, the federal district court seemingly

questioned the ability of the Florida Senate to dutifully carry out its

constitutional role in suspension matters, referring to that

legislative body as “heavily partisan.” Id.

     Almost one month after the federal district court issued its

merits order—extraneous comments and all—and more than six

months after his suspension, Petitioner finally knocked on this

Court’s door and requested our “expeditious review.” Although

Petitioner in his petition for writ of quo warranto does challenge the

facial sufficiency of the suspension order, Petitioner’s primary

argument relies on the principle of “collateral estoppel,” or “issue

preclusion.” Specifically, Petitioner asserts that “a federal court has

already held that the Executive Order is unconstitutional,” and he

argues that the federal court’s “factual findings” are “[p]reclusive

and [m]ust be [g]iven [e]ffect” by this Court. Petitioner’s alternative

petition for writ of mandamus relies entirely on “the District Court’s

Judgment.”

     Quite questionably, Petitioner presents his collateral estoppel

arguments even though the federal district court dismissed all of

Petitioner’s claims. See Bobby v. Bies, 556 U.S. 825, 829 (2009)

                                 - 10 -
(“[I]ssue preclusion is a plea available to prevailing parties. . . .

Issue preclusion, in short, does not transform final judgment losers,

in civil or criminal proceedings, into partially prevailing parties.”).

And Petitioner presents these arguments even though the federal

district court’s order on the merits is currently the subject of an

appeal by Petitioner himself. Warren v. DeSantis, No. 23-10459

(11th Cir. argued May 2, 2023). But we need not further address

Petitioner’s arguments or the federal district court’s orders. As

explained next, we deny the petition due to Petitioner’s

unreasonable, unexplained delay.

                                    IV.

     Under article V, section 3(b)(8) of the Florida Constitution, this

Court “[m]ay issue writs of . . . quo warranto to state officers and

state agencies.” 4 “The term ‘quo warranto’ means ‘by what

authority’ . . . .” Whiley v. Scott, 79 So. 3d 702, 707 (Fla. 2011).

      4. This Court may also “issue writs of mandamus . . . to state
officers and state agencies.” Art. V, § 3(b)(8), Fla. Const. We do not
separately address Petitioner’s alternative request for a writ of
mandamus, as that request is wholly predicated on “the District
Court’s Judgment,” not on the facial sufficiency of the suspension
order.

                                  - 11 -
The writ “is the proper vehicle to challenge the ‘power and authority’

of a constitutional officer, such as the Governor.” Crist v. Fla. Ass’n

of Crim. Def. Laws., Inc., 978 So. 2d 134, 138 n.3 (Fla. 2008)

(quoting Austin v. State ex rel. Christian, 310 So. 2d 289, 290 (Fla.

1975)). The writ is thus the proper vehicle to challenge whether the

Governor properly exercised the suspension power. See Israel, 269

So. 3d at 494. But in the suspension context, of course, that

challenge “is limited to a facial review of the executive order of

suspension.” Id. at 497.

     Although the writ of quo warranto—an extraordinary writ—is

potentially available in various circumstances, “the granting of [an

extraordinary] writ lies within the discretion of the court.” Id. at

494 (quoting Topps v. State, 865 So. 2d 1253, 1257 (Fla. 2004)); see

also Boan v. Fla. Fifth Dist. Ct. of Appeal Jud. Nominating Comm’n,

352 So. 3d 1249, 1252 (Fla. 2022) (“Article V, section 3(b)(8) . . .

gives this Court discretionary jurisdiction to issue writs of quo

warranto . . . .”). Indeed, “the nature of an extraordinary writ is not

of absolute right.” Israel, 269 So. 3d at 494 (quoting Topps, 865 So.

2d at 1257).

                                 - 12 -
     Given the nature of an extraordinary writ, there may be

circumstances in which a court denies relief for “reasons other than

the actual merits of the claim.” Topps, 865 So. 2d at 1257. For

example, a petitioner who unreasonably delays filing a petition for

writ of quo warranto may see that petition denied on that basis.

See, e.g., Thompson v. DeSantis, 301 So. 3d 180, 182-84 (Fla. 2020)

(declining to “consider” the petitioner’s claims for quo warranto and

mandamus relief against the Chair of the Supreme Court Judicial

Nominating Commission (JNC), where “the Petitioner waited nearly

six months” to challenge the JNC’s list of nominees to fill a judicial

vacancy, and citing State ex rel. Pooser v. Wester, 170 So. 736 (Fla.

1936), in which an unreasonable four-month delay precluded the

grant of quo warranto relief). We conclude that this case involves

unreasonable delay.

     Here, within two weeks of his suspension, Petitioner sought a

writ of quo warranto challenging the facial sufficiency of the

suspension order. But Petitioner brought that claim in federal

district court—a court that Petitioner should have known was

wholly without jurisdiction to consider the claim. Indeed, just a few

weeks later, that court informed Petitioner that his claim was

                                - 13 -
“bar[red] . . . in federal court” and that any “relief” would have to be

sought “in state court.” Warren, 2022 WL 6250952, at *2, *3. Yet

Petitioner, who was ready to challenge the facial sufficiency of the

suspension order within two weeks of his suspension, then waited

almost five more months before bringing that claim in state court,

all but ensuring that the 2023 regular session of the Florida Senate

would come and go without any opportunity for that legislative body

to potentially review the suspension. In now requesting our

“expeditious review,” Petitioner cites “the significant public

interest,” and he primarily relies on the purported “findings” of a

federal judge who ultimately dismissed Petitioner’s claims and

whose final order was appealed by Petitioner himself. Under these

circumstances involving such dilatory conduct by Petitioner, we

decline to consider Petitioner’s claims for relief against the

Governor.

     Whether Petitioner “invok[ed] this Court as a backup plan,” as

the Governor argues, or whether Petitioner had other reasons for

the delay, we do not know. Petitioner is not saying. Petitioner’s

only reply on this point is that he “filed for relief in this Court

promptly following judgment in the District Court” and that “no rule

                                  - 14 -
sets a time limit within which [he] was required to file his Petition.”

That is hardly persuasive.

     Petitioner’s unreasonable delay does not necessarily leave him

without any potential remedy. Indeed, the remedy that remains

available is the one expressly contemplated by the Florida

Constitution—i.e., “proceedings” in “[t]he senate.” Art. IV, § 7(b),

Fla. Const. “The Senate is nothing less than a court provided to

examine into and determine whether or not the Governor exercises

the power of suspension in keeping with the constitutional

mandate.” Hardie, 155 So. at 134. There is no reason to doubt

that the elected members comprising that legislative body will “be

just” in carrying out their “solemn duty.” Id.

                                   V.

     The petition is denied.

     It is so ordered.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and
SASSO, JJ., concur.
FRANCIS, J., concurs with an opinion.
LABARGA, J., dissents with an opinion.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION
AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED.

                                 - 15 -
FRANCIS, J., concurring.

     I agree with the majority denying Mr. Warren’s petition as

untimely.

     I also agree with the majority’s observation that the text of

article IV, section 7 doesn’t attribute any role to the courts in

suspension matters; only our precedents do. See majority op. at 3.

     I write solely to explore how those precedents, in vacillating on

how much involvement we should have, demonstrate the thorniness

of these suspension cases.

     The Court’s involvement in these suspension cases flows from

our enumerated power to issue extraordinary writs, including writs

of quo warranto. Israel v. DeSantis, 269 So. 3d 491, 494-95 (Fla.

2019) (citing art. V, § 3(b)(8), Fla. Const.); see also art. V, § 4(b)(3),

Fla. Const. (authorizing district courts of appeal to issue the writ of

quo warranto); art. V, § 5(b), Fla. Const. (authorizing circuit courts

to issue the writ of quo warranto). Under article V, section 3(b)(8) of

the Florida Constitution, this Court “[m]ay issue writs of . . . quo

warranto to state officers and state agencies.” Quo warranto is

used “to determine whether a state officer or agency has improperly

exercised a power or right derived from the State.” League of

                                   - 16 -
Women Voters of Fla. v. Scott, 232 So. 3d 264, 265 (Fla. 2017)

(quoting Fla. House of Representatives v. Crist, 999 So. 2d 601, 607

(Fla. 2008)). The writ of quo warranto is the proper vehicle to

challenge a governor’s suspension order. See Israel, 269 So. 3d at

494.

       Reconciling our state constitution’s clear commitment of the

power to review suspensions to the Senate and our power to issue

extraordinary writs raises two serious questions to this writer: (1)

are such suspension orders even justiciable in the first place? and,

if they are, (2) what is the limitation on this Court’s review of such

orders?

       With respect to the first question, the short answer is, this

Court has never addressed this before. In the past, in unrelated

cases, we have looked to the federal political question doctrine for

guidance in evaluating whether certain constitutional challenges

present unworkable political questions. See, e.g., Citizens for Strong

Schs., Inc. v. Fla. State Bd. of Educ., 262 So. 3d 127 (Fla. 2019). Yet

we have not explicitly applied the political question doctrine to our

role in reviewing suspensions.

                                  - 17 -
     The Governor makes a compelling argument that we should.

Our Constitution empowers the Senate with the authority to review

suspensions. Art. IV, § 7(b), Fla. Const. That provision constitutes

“a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to

a coordinate political department.” Zivotofsky ex rel. Zivotofsky v.

Clinton, 566 U.S. 189, 195 (2012) (quoting Nixon v. United States,

506 U.S. 224, 228 (1993)). The political question doctrine’s roots in

separation of powers are especially relevant in our constitutional

system, where separation of powers is textually compelled. See art.

II, § 3, Fla Const. (“No person belonging to one branch shall

exercise any powers appertaining to either of the other branches

unless expressly provided herein.”). While the Governor’s reference

to the impeachment process is textually distinct from suspension

(since the suspension provision requires the governor produce an

executive order and the impeachment provision does not), the two

contexts do assign the trial to the same venue: the Florida Senate.

Compare art. III, § 17(c), Fla. Const., with art. IV, § 7(b), Fla Const.

     Assuming the Court does have a role in reviewing these

suspension orders, the second question is, what is the scope of that

review? Again, our precedents don’t provide a clear answer. In

                                 - 18 -
fact, this body has taken two different approaches: one narrow, the

other broad. Compare State ex rel. Lamar v. Johnson, 11 So. 845,

851-852 (Fla. 1892) (opining that court review of suspension orders

was a “bald usurpation of the constitutional power of the chief

executive” and identifying “the senate [as] the sole check upon any

erroneous action on [the governor’s] part.”) (emphasis added), and

State ex rel. Kelly v. Sullivan, 52 So. 2d 422, 425 (Fla. 1951) (“[T]he

courts may not inquire . . . as to the sufficiency of the evidence for

suspension” since that power of review instead “exists in the

Senate.”), with State ex rel. Hardie v. Coleman, 155 So. 129, 133

(Fla. 1934) (requiring suspensions orders to “bear some reasonable

relation to the charge made against the officer,” which necessitates

some factual inquiry), and Israel, 5 269 So. 3d at 496 (same, citing

Hardie, 155 So. at 133).

      5. While our Court did discuss proper sufficiency review in
Israel, we did not squarely tackle our review’s scope there. 269 So.
3d at 494. Israel dealt with an appeal from a circuit court’s denial
of a petition for a writ of quo warranto. Id. Neither party asserted
any claim about the scope of the writ of quo warranto or the nature
of our review of suspension orders, and the Governor did not urge
us to find the judiciary’s authority was limited in the manner he
does now. Our other recent case discussing suspension orders,
Jackson v. DeSantis, 268 So. 3d 662, 663 (Fla. 2019), is also
distinguishable because Jackson’s argument that the order

                                 - 19 -
     Incorporating the political question doctrine into our

suspension review bolsters support for an approach that our review

should be limited to ensuring that a governor took the necessary

steps to exercise his power—producing a written order identifying

an enumerated ground and filing it with the custodian. Art. IV, §

7(a), Fla. Const.

     Delving into whether the suspension order’s allegations are

reasonably related to an enumerated ground likely treads too far

into an inherently political realm, the merits of which are textually

committed to the Florida Senate. See generally Zivotofsky, 566 U.S.

at 195. 6

suspended her for conduct before her current term in office was
facially untrue. Because none of the parties in our recent cases
have asked us to consider the textual basis for our review—until the
Governor did here—we have not recently held that we can review
the sufficiency of an order in this broad a manner; we have
assumed it. See CCM Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v. Petri Positive Pest
Control, Inc., 330 So. 3d 1, 6 (Fla. 2021) (Canady, C.J., dissenting)
(“A decision’s authority as precedent is limited to the points of law
raised by the record, considered by the court, and determined by
the outcome. The assumptions a court uses to reach a particular
result do not themselves create a new precedent or strengthen
existing precedent.” (quoting Bryan A. Garner et al., The Law of
Judicial Precedent 44, 84 (2016)).

      6. It is also not entirely clear how we would interpret our
political question doctrine in this context. In the past, our Court

                                - 20 -
     All that said, for today’s purposes, Mr. Warren’s petition is

properly denied as untimely.

LABARGA, J., dissenting.

     Andrew Warren was first elected in November 2016 and

assumed the office of State Attorney for the Thirteenth Judicial

Circuit of Florida in January 2017. In the 2016 general election, he

defeated the incumbent by a margin of less than one percent of the

vote. Four years later, in the 2020 general election, he was

reelected by a margin of more than six percentage points.

     Before this Court then, is the issue of the suspension of a

twice-elected prosecutor who was convincingly reelected to

has mainly employed the doctrine when a party implores us to
fashion a judicially unmanageable standard. See, e.g., Citizens for
Strong Schs., Inc., 262 So. 3d at 140-43. The federal political
question doctrine is not so limited, and there is a significant debate
among constitutional scholars on whether the doctrine is: (1) part of
Article III jurisdiction, operating as a quasi-jurisdictional bar to
bring suit; or (2) is only a judicial policy decision to refrain from
interfering in unworkable political contexts. See generally, Scott
Dodson, Article III and the Political Question Doctrine, 116 NW. U. L.
REV. 681 (2021). United States Supreme Court precedent seemingly
discussed both rationales. Id. As the Governor notes, some courts
have observed that the two concepts work in concert: that
“institutional limitations of the judiciary” are reflected in “the lack
of manageable standards to channel any judicial inquiry” into
political questions. El-Shifa Pharm. Indus. Co. v. United States, 607
F.3d 836, 843 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (citing Nixon, 506 U.S. at 228–29).

                                - 21 -
represent the interests of more than one million Floridians in the

Thirteenth Judicial Circuit.

     At the time of Warren’s suspension in August 2022, he was

eighteen months into his second four-year term. Even today, he

still has roughly the same amount of time left in his term. Despite

this amount of time remaining on the clock, this Court has denied

Warren’s petition on the grounds of untimeliness.

     Given that this case involves the suspension of a then-sitting

elected official—for whom a substantial portion of the term yet

remains—I am unpersuaded by the majority’s conclusion that

Warren’s petition is properly denied on the ground of unreasonable

delay.

     I respectfully dissent.

Original Proceeding – Quo Warranto

David B. Singer and Matthew T. Newton of Older Lundy Koch &
Martino, Tampa, Florida; Jean-Jacques Cabou, Alexis E.
Danneman, and Margo R. Casselman of Perkins Coie LLP, Phoenix,
Arizona; and David O’Neil of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP,
Washington, District of Columbia,

     for Petitioner, The Honorable Andrew H. Warren

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Henry C. Whitaker, Solicitor
General, Jeffrey Paul DeSousa and Daniel William Bell, Chief
Deputy Solicitors General, David M. Costello, Deputy Solicitor

                               - 22 -
General, and Robert Scott Schenck, Solicitor General Fellow, Office
of the Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida; Ryan Newman,
General Counsel, and Ray Treadwell, Chief Deputy General
Counsel, Executive Office of the Governor, Tallahassee, Florida; and
George T. Levesque and Jeff Aaron of GrayRobinson, P.A.,
Tallahassee, Florida,

     for Respondent, The Honorable Ron DeSantis, in his Official
     Capacity as Governor of Florida

Lawrence J. Dougherty of Guerra King, P.A., Tampa, Florida,

     for Amici Curiae Constitution Revision Commission Members
     and State Constitutional Law Scholars

Robert Wayne Evans and Benjamin M. Lagos of Allen, Norton &
Blue, P.A., on behalf of Florida Sheriffs Association, Tallahassee,
Florida; J. David Marsey, of Rumberger Kirk & Caldwell, on behalf
of the Florida Police Chiefs Association, Tallahassee, Florida; and
Arthur Ivan Jacobs of Jacobs Scholz & Wyler, LLC, on behalf of
Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Fernandina Beach,
Florida,

     for Amici Curiae Florida Sheriffs Association, Florida
     Police Chiefs Association, and Florida Prosecuting
     Attorneys Association

                               - 23 -