DeSantis states he would stop legal ‘bias.’ 3 moments he’s leveraged the regulation as governor.

Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed that if he wins the presidency he will “excise political bias and end weaponization” of the U.S. Division of Justice “once and for all.”

“We have for many years witnessed an uneven software of the legislation depending on political affiliation,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday night in reaction to news that former President Donald Trump has been federally indicted on expenses similar to mishandling classified files.

The tone was steady with DeSantis’ portrayal of himself as battling from liberal takeovers of highly effective institutions. But as governor, DeSantis has been unafraid to use legislation enforcement, the courts or the enlargement of his very own government powers to pursue his very own agenda.

Listed here are three illustrations of DeSantis pushing the legal envelope to execute what he wishes:

Prosecuting felons for voting

Several hours ahead of DeSantis held an afternoon information conference surrounded by uniformed law enforcement officers, nearly 20 individuals with felony data were arrested throughout Florida as part of a planned procedure by point out police.

DeSantis warned other individuals that if they, as well, improperly solid a vote: “We’re coming.”

The arrests ended up a show of the powers of the freshly shaped Business office of Election Crimes and Protection, which DeSantis pushed for amid force from the GOP base to do additional to investigate Trump’s baseless statements of popular voter fraud.

The individuals arrested experienced voted in elections regardless of being convicted of disqualifying felonies, together with sex offenses and murder. Quite a few expressed confusion about the costs, declaring they had been issued voter ID playing cards and believed they were being qualified to vote.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement was tasked with carrying out the arrests, and some of the agents had been almost apologetic as they did so, overall body camera footage confirmed. Many previous agents not long ago advised The Washington Write-up they consider that DeSantis has politicized the department.

Of the 19 men and women arrested originally, 12 had been registered as Democrats and at least 13 are Black, the Periods/Herald identified.

Lawyers who represented the former felons argued in courtroom that the prosecutions were a “waste of time” and done to “make a political position.”

The arrests represented a much more aggressive tactic to voter fraud situations than some other prosecutors had taken in the past. In Lake County, for case in point, the Republican condition lawyer declined to convey charges versus six convicted sex offenders who voted in 2020 simply because they did not “willfully” commit the crime, as was needed by legislation.

Ousting a Florida prosecutor

In August, flanked by Tampa Bay legislation enforcement, DeSantis declared he was suspending Hillsborough Point out Attorney Andrew Warren from office environment for what he claimed was the prosecutor’s disregard for his duty to implement condition rules.

Warren, a Democrat who had been elected twice to his position, experienced signed pledges indicating he would not enforce legislation prohibiting gender-affirming treatment for minors or guidelines restricting abortion, illustrations of actions that DeSantis said showed how Warren “put himself publicly previously mentioned the law.”

The suspension fundamentally amounted to a firing, which Warren has fought in courtroom. Before this year, U.S. District Decide Robert L. Hinkle dominated that DeSantis’ actions have been unconstitutional and wrote that DeSantis was largely enthusiastic by the political advantage of taking away “a prosecutor whose functionality did not match the Governor’s legislation-and-get agenda.” Nevertheless, Hinkle also uncovered that he did not have the authority to reinstate Warren.

The shift marked a important growth of DeSantis’ executive powers. Whilst governors have the authority to suspend duly elected area officials, it was traditionally reserved primarily for occasions when the officers had been billed with crimes.

DeSantis typically references his ousting of Warren during his presidential stump speeches.

“Florida has fought back against the plague of (George) Soros-backed district attorneys,” he advised the group during his 2024 campaign kickoff speech in Iowa, to applause. “When we experienced a single of all those prosecutors … I eradicated him from his put up.”

COVID-19 vaccine grand jury

DeSantis’ political inventory rose in 2020 and 2021 as he grew to become 1 of the nation’s most vocal governors pushing back again on COVID-19 limitations. While he at to start with inspired men and women in Florida to get the COVID-19 vaccine, he has because amplified the voices of people today who have pushed vaccine misinformation, and his administration has encouraged versus the vaccine for some teams.

In December, he took his struggle to the courts and asked for a statewide grand jury to look into “criminal or wrongful activity” related to how vaccines ended up formulated, promoted and distributed.

He introduced his ask for at the close of a 90-minute roundtable with the Florida surgeon general that centered on alleged harms from the vaccine. In that panel, DeSantis included many healthcare specialists who have critiqued vaccines. The majority of public wellbeing professionals say that COVID-19 vaccines are protected and advantageous and that really serious facet effects are rare.

Soon after his petition was filed, the Florida Supreme Courtroom granted the ask for for a grand jury. The Florida Department of Legislation Enforcement is the specified head of the investigation.

It is the 3rd statewide grand jury DeSantis has convened. The other two focused on migrants remaining introduced to Florida and college safety just after the Parkland massacre.

Statewide grand juries have only been impaneled about 20 moments in additional than 40 years. In advance of DeSantis’ 2019 request to glimpse into university safety, the final statewide grand jury experienced been impaneled in 2009, when former Gov. Charlie Crist questioned to investigate crimes like bribery and fraud fully commited by nearby and state community officers.