Federal judge considers penalizing DeSantis-picked attorney general over Florida immigration law

Politico

3 days ago

MIAMI — A federal judge seemed wary of arguments during a Thursday court hearing that state Attorney General James Uthmeier, an appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis, hadn't tried to undermine her court order blocking a Florida immigration law.
Yet U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said she would take the defense of Uthmeier's attorney, Jesse Panuccio, into consideration and review a past court case outlining the standards for potentially holding Uthmeier in contempt. She promised to issue a ruling soon — one that could result in Uthmeier receiving a fine or jail time if she does determine he's in contempt.
The law in question makes it a crime for undocumented immigrants to enter Florida. Williams, an Obama-era appointee, put a temporary hold on it last month after the ACLU challenged the law, and predicted it would be found unconstitutional. She said state and local law enforcement officials could not use the law to arrest people.
Thursday's nearly two-hour hearing centered on a memo Uthmeier sent on April 23 — a few weeks after Williams' hold — that disagreed with the ruling and argued 'no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce Florida's new illegal entry and reentry laws.'
The ACLU said those comments indicated Uthmeier was telling law enforcement officials to disobey the judge's order and arrest people anyway. But Florida's attorney general argued in court filings that he was merely stating his legal objections. He argued he did obey the order by telling officers in an earlier letter, issued five days prior, to put enforcement on hold until the case made its way through the courts.
Panuccio argued Thursday that both letters needed to be considered in context together. He said the intent of the second letter was for Uthmeier to clarify news reports that appeared to show he told officers not to enforce the immigration law. In reality, he said, the order had been the judge's. The second letter was also supposed to update the public on how Uthmeier appealed Williams' ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and why, he added. (Uthmeier was not present for the hearing.)
Williams appeared skeptical about Uthmeier's intent, calling herself a 'very linear thinker.' At one point she dug into Panuccio over Uthmeier's comments — not just from his letter last month, but remarks he made during news interviews disagreeing with her ruling. In one instance, Uthmeier said he was 'not going to rubber stamp' the order or 'direct law enforcement to stand down on enforcing the Trump agenda or carrying out Florida's law.'
'That was just one,' she said of the example she quoted loosely. 'There are buckets.'
Panuccio disputed using the comments from that interview during the hearing, saying the court should only be focused on briefs entered into the court record rather than what officials say during media interviews. Using the comments to make a final decision about court contempt could raise constitutional concerns about free speech and the power of the states, he added.
Williams shot back: 'You're inviting me to consider context and I'm considering context.' She also noted that Panuccio had himself raised an unspecified news report in arguing one of the reasons Uthmeier wrote the second letter.
'When someone tells you who they are, you should listen,' she said later in the hearing.
But Panuccio also repeatedly referenced a case about standards for issuing contempt of court decisions, including that there should be no ambiguity in how the comments can be interpreted. Williams said she wanted to look at the case more closely as she makes her decision.
Uthmeier, who was appointed to his role by DeSantis in February, has the governor's support over his actions. He was previously DeSantis' chief of staff and will be running to keep his job in the 2026 election.
ACLU deputy director Cody Wofsy, who argued against Uthmeier in court Thursday, insisted the second letter's wording was 'more damning than the next' and said Uthmeier should have rushed to clarify his words if he hadn't meant them to come across the way they did.
'He may have held those goals,' he said of Panuccio's description of Uthmeier's letter, 'but they don't explain the decision of issuing the letter.'
The judge signaled she was open to his argument. 'There needs to be an appreciation and abiding by court order or else this all becomes anarchy,' she said.
But Panuccio rebutted with the fact that local law enforcement officials had made no arrests under that portion of the law since Uthmeier's April 18 letter. (Dozens had been arrested before.) That, he said, serves as evidence that Williams' ruling is widely seen as binding among law enforcement. An attorney for the state backed him up at one point after Williams asked whether they'd checked to confirm that no one had been arrested.