Will Florida Gov DeSantis Prosecute the Media for Airing Pro-Choice Ads?

This guy forget what country he’s in?

Oh?

Is intimidation the way to keep governing?….

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is threatening TV stations that air ads in support of an abortion rights ballot initiative with criminal penalties, including jail time.

DeSantis and his allies are already spending large sums of taxpayer dollars to fight Amendment 4, which would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution if voted into law in November. His “election police” have interrogated and intimidated residents who signed petitions to put it on the ballot. His administration created a publicly funded, state-run website condemning the amendment, and has run ads promoting the current law, which bans abortions after six weeks.

Now, however, DeSantis is escalating the battle: On Oct. 3, his Department of Health sent a letter to at least one local NBC affiliate suggesting that prosecutors could bring criminal charges against the TV station for airing ads that encourage residents to vote for the amendment. The letter, first reported by investigative journalist Jason Garcia, asserted that the ads violate Florida’s “sanitary nuisance” law and that stations may commit a second-degree misdemeanor by carrying them, subjecting their employees to a 60-day jail sentence….

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Even if the ad did somehow constitute a criminal “nuisance” to women’s health, though, no media company could possibly be punished for airing it. That’s because media companies have a First Amendment right to air campaign ads that are exaggerated, tendentious, or alleged to be false. Political speech, particularly about ongoing campaigns, is the most highly protected form of expression; any state efforts to chill, censor, or punish this speech because of its “communicative content” is presumptively unconstitutional….

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The point here is that even if the statements made in “Caroline” were false, Florida would have no power to punish media companies that air the ad. But the statements are true, so the state is unquestionably prohibited from imposing any punishment. Rebecca Tushnet, a professor at Harvard Law School and a First Amendment specialist, told me that the DeSantis administration’s threat is “about as blatant a violation of the First Amendment as you’ll see.”….

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DeSantis’ approach is simple: The governor attempts to impose his policies by censoring expression, threatening those who disagree with gag orders, civil penalties, and even incarceration. He might lose in court later—but by then, the censorship may have had its intended effect. Amendment 4 needs 60 percent approval to pass; DeSantis and his administration are trying to suppress enough pro-choice speech to hold off supermajority support. Any criminal charges over the “Caroline” campaign ad would, of course, get thrown out in court. But if the governor can doom Amendment 4 by silencing speech now, he is unlikely to care that his intimidation tactics were built on constitutional quicksand…..

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