Authoritarianism in Florida is here to stay, as DeSantis rules the courts

Guest columns reflect the views of the writers, not necessarily of The Palm Beach Post Editorial Board.

Democracy isn’t inevitable.

It can slide into authoritarianism when leaders are allowed to consolidate power, capturing or marginalizing independent centers of thought and dissent that could challenge their authority.

There’s a formula that wannabe authoritarians follow:

• Reduce the legislature to a rubber stamp; (Check that box in Florida!);

• Secure control over schools and universities; (Who would have thought that a Florida governor would dictate what can be said — and not said — in a classroom or read in a library?);

• Limit oversight by the media by blocking access to information;

• Curtail protests.

But securing control of the courts is the most significant step.

More: School board seeks to take charter school dispute to Florida Supreme Court

American democracy depends on an independent judiciary to check executive and legislative powers, in no small part to be guardians of minority rights.

We are experiencing a legal revolution in Florida in which constitutional values that have been taken for granted are being trashed. These changes could last for years. I don’t think we are prepared for what’s coming.

We are about to lose our right to privacy

Given our state constitution’s guarantee of privacy, previous legislative efforts to restrict access to abortion were “presumptively unconstitutional,” as one former Florida Chief Justice said. But the Supreme Court is now considering a 15-week abortion ban, with a 6-week ban ready to be imposed depending on the Court’s decision.

Attorney General Ashley Moody, echoing the arrogance contained in U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion overturning the 50-year precedent of Roe, told the Court that all previous Florida abortion decisions were “clearly erroneous.”

Moody and anti-abortion zealots have urged the DeSantis-reshaped Florida Supreme Court to reinterpret the meaning of privacy to protect only “informational privacy” — limiting personal information that government collects and distributes. If the court agrees, women will lose control over decisions to continue or terminate a pregnancy, and everyone will lose protection against an intrusive government given a green light to invade our personal lives, subject us to surveillance technologies or inquire about books and magazines or anything we possess in our homes. And we will have less control over medical decisions, including end-of-life care.

Legalized gerrymandering

By 2010, Floridians had enough of the legislature’s manipulation of elections, and added the Fair District Amendments to the state constitution to end partisan and racial gerrymandering. The constitution now prohibits the drawing of legislative and congressional district maps that diminish the ability of racial or language minorities from electing representatives of their choice.

More: Florida's outrageous,illegal gerrymander

But following the 2020 Census, Gov. DeSantis pressured the Legislature to adopt a redistricting plan that diluted the Black vote in two congressional districts. Diminishing the ability of Black voters to elect representatives of their choice was DeSantis’ whole point. Nevertheless, the Court looked the other way and allowed use of the gerrymandered map during the legal challenge.

The people didn’t change their constitution; Gov. DeSantis changed the membership of the Supreme Court.

Other matters will test DeSantis newly appointed judges’ fidelity to principle over allegiance to ideology and fealty to the Governor. Will a reshaped judiciary permit gagging teachers from mentioning the existence of gay people and gay couples or censoring discussion of America’s racial past?

It’s not looking good: the Governor suspended the twice-elected Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, claiming that he neglected his duty and displayed incompetence. Following a trial that reviewed all the evidence, a federal judge found that to be a pretext for DeSantis’ opposition to Warren’s efforts to bring greater fairness and especially greater racial fairness to the criminal justice system.

Within the last few days, the DeSantis-reshaped Florida Supreme Court didn’t merely rule against Warren’s petition for re-instatement, it used a procedural hook to deny him a hearing – thereby denying the Hillsborough County voters the right to choose their chief law enforcement officer.

When judges are appointed because they are willing to discard precedent or agree to figure out how to make terrible policies legal, the effect is consolidation of power in the executive branch.

We’ve seen this movie before. Hungary’s Viktor Orban created his “illiberal democracy” by consolidating power through gerrymandering the legislative branch and securing control over the courts. Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to capture control of Israel’s Supreme Court.

There are strategies to resist – none now more important or urgent than getting petitions signed to put an explicit right to abortion on the ballot — but we need to be honest with each other: The forecast for human rights in Florida is distressing and likely to last for a long time largely due to the re-making of the courts by our Governor.

Howard Simon, Ph. D., served as Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida from 1997 through 2018. He is now President of Clean Okeechobee Waters Foundation, Inc.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: As DeSantis controls courts, Florida descends into authoritarianism