Based Ron DeSantis Removes Woke Florida Prosecutor

[Benjamin Frank]

The level of ignorance here is very disappointing. It certainly shows a need to improve civics education in the United States.

The resources for the police, prosecutors and judges are simply not enough to enforce every crime committed.  If there were no scarce resources, there would be police officers on every street making sure that nobody jaywalked.

So, the issue becomes one of who decides what to enforce, or one of prosecutorial discretion.  

In most places here in Canada, there is a police board chaired by the mayor and various appointed civilians that works in concert with the police and the prosecutors to decide what laws to focus on.

In the United States, this discretion mostly seems to be placed with the elected offices. In Florida, that is the county sheriff along with the state's attorney. (The state's attorney is an elected position and in called in most states either the district attorney or the county prosecutor.) Obviously it's best when the county sheriff and the district attorney work together.

Although a mandate and not a law, this really is no different than when the Los Angeles County Sheriff told his officers to not enforce mask mandates. While this county sheriff did not say 'I oppose mask mandates, so I refuse to enforce them', but instead said 'this is too low a priority for the officers available', the point is the same: some authority has to have discretion to decide what laws to focus on enforcing in their jurisdiction.

What this really is from DeathSantis is an attack on local governments. Hopefully the people in this county will resent having their local control taken away from them and help vote out this authoritarian fascist.

[Benjamin Frank]

The level of ignorance here is very disappointing. It certainly shows a need to improve civics education in the United States.

The resources for the police, prosecutors and judges are simply not enough to enforce every crime committed.  If there were no scarce resources, there would be police officers on every street making sure that nobody jaywalked.

So, the issue becomes one of who decides what to enforce, or one of prosecutorial discretion.  

In most places here in Canada, there is a police board chaired by the mayor and various appointed civilians that works in concert with the police and the prosecutors to decide what laws to focus on.

In the United States, this discretion mostly seems to be placed with the elected offices. In Florida, that is the county sheriff along with the state's attorney. (The state's attorney is an elected position and in called in most states either the district attorney or the county prosecutor.) Obviously it's best when the county sheriff and the district attorney work together.

Although a mandate and not a law, this really is no different than when the Los Angeles County Sheriff told his officers to not enforce mask mandates. While this county sheriff did not say 'I oppose mask mandates, so I refuse to enforce them', but instead said 'this is too low a priority for the officers available', the point is the same: some authority has to have discretion to decide what laws to focus on enforcing in their jurisdiction.

What this really is from DeathSantis is an attack on local governments. Hopefully the people in this county will resent having their local control taken away from them and help vote out this authoritarian fascist.

1. There is a difference between not prosecuting some cases due to time constraints  which then forces you to prioritize which ones you will prosecute vs which ones you dont. You better have receipts proving you didnt have the time to prosecute the other ones as well

2. Most Mask Mandates were implemented by executive orders and executive agencies and not legislation


So yes if Andrew Warren was smart he probably could have not really enforced this thanks to point number 1 but that point is very different then I will not enforce the law due to my own political beliefs.

1.Every jurisdiction faces this issue and has to prioritize the type of cases to focus on. Have you ever got a ticket for jaywalking?  "better have the receipts"? That's absurd. Do you think the police and prosecutors are just sitting on their asses since if they don't enforce abortion laws? Most police are already overburdened with harrassing minorities and poor people. Just kidding.

2.When a district attorney is elected, the people of the county don't vote for an automaton, they vote for somebody to use their discretion in deciding what to prosecute (even if many of them mistakenly think that every law is enforced, most district attorneys get elected stating what laws they want to focus on enforcing.) If the people of this county disagree with this state's attorney not enforcing abortion laws, the people of the county can vote him out. It's interesting how often right wingers otherwise argue:

A.the will of the voters should not be overturned except by the electorate.
B.the best governments are local governments because they are closest to the people.

If DeathSantis doesn't like counties electing local officials, he should submit a law to remove local and county governments and have their duties handled at the state level.

DeFacto, this is already what many 'red states' are doing to their 'blues cities and counties.'

[Benjamin Frank]

The level of ignorance here is very disappointing. It certainly shows a need to improve civics education in the United States.

The resources for the police, prosecutors and judges are simply not enough to enforce every crime committed.  If there were no scarce resources, there would be police officers on every street making sure that nobody jaywalked.

So, the issue becomes one of who decides what to enforce, or one of prosecutorial discretion.  

In most places here in Canada, there is a police board chaired by the mayor and various appointed civilians that works in concert with the police and the prosecutors to decide what laws to focus on.

In the United States, this discretion mostly seems to be placed with the elected offices. In Florida, that is the county sheriff along with the state's attorney. (The state's attorney is an elected position and in called in most states either the district attorney or the county prosecutor.) Obviously it's best when the county sheriff and the district attorney work together.

Although a mandate and not a law, this really is no different than when the Los Angeles County Sheriff told his officers to not enforce mask mandates. While this county sheriff did not say 'I oppose mask mandates, so I refuse to enforce them', but instead said 'this is too low a priority for the officers available', the point is the same: some authority has to have discretion to decide what laws to focus on enforcing in their jurisdiction.

What this really is from DeathSantis is an attack on local governments. Hopefully the people in this county will resent having their local control taken away from them and help vote out this authoritarian fascist.

1. There is a difference between not prosecuting some cases due to time constraints  which then forces you to prioritize which ones you will prosecute vs which ones you dont. You better have receipts proving you didnt have the time to prosecute the other ones as well

2. Most Mask Mandates were implemented by executive orders and executive agencies and not legislation


So yes if Andrew Warren was smart he probably could have not really enforced this thanks to point number 1 but that point is very different then I will not enforce the law due to my own political beliefs.

1.Every jurisdiction faces this issue and has to prioritize the type of cases to focus on. Have you ever got a ticket for jaywalking?  "better have the receipts"? That's absurd. Do you think the police and prosecutors are just sitting on their asses since if they don't enforce abortion laws? Most police are already overburdened with harrassing minorities and poor people. Just kidding.

2.When a district attorney is elected, the people of the county don't vote for an automaton, they vote for somebody to use their discretion in deciding what to prosecute (even if many of them mistakenly think that every law is enforced, most district attorneys get elected stating what laws they want to focus on enforcing.) If the people of this county disagree with this state's attorney not enforcing abortion laws, the people of the county can vote him out. It's interesting how often right wingers otherwise argue:

A.the will of the voters should not be overturned except by the electorate.
B.the best governments are local governments because they are closest to the people.

If DeathSantis doesn't like counties electing local officials, he should submit a law to remove local and county governments and have their duties handled at the state level.

DeFacto, this is already what many 'red states' are doing to their 'blues cities and counties.'

 This is not what Andrew Warren did as he straight up said he would not enforce the law cause he disagreed with it . He didn’t say we don’t have time to do , but openly said he would not enforce laws he disagrees with .

This is prosecutorial discretion. The district attorney/county prosecutor/state's attorney has broad discretion to decide which laws to focus on enforcing and which laws to ignore.

Here in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia, for instance, possession of small amounts of hard drugs aren't prosecuted. Unfortunately, the police still take drugs from people if they catch them and the sale of small amounts of hard drugs (often from one friend to another) is still prosecuted if the police catch the act.

However, in Greater Vancouver, but not necessarily in most of the rest of Canada, possession of small amounts of hard drugs is defacto legal.

Let's be honest here though. If this state's attorney had decided to play the game and said that "I have no problem in principle with prosecuting over abortion, but the office just doesn't have the resources to do so", do you honestly think DeathSantis would have not still fired him?