TALLAHASSEE, Florida (LifeSiteNews) – The Florida Supreme Court voted Thursday to uphold Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ousting of another radical left-wing prosecutor, finding that the governor demonstrated a clear basis for doing so in Monique Worrell’s job performance.
Worrell, the former State Attorney for Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit Court, was elected in 2020, with the backing of far-left financier George Soros for her history of left-wing prison “reform” activism. “Our Voice Our Vote,” a new political action committee funded by both a Florida left-wing group and $1 million from Soros’ Democracy PAC, supported her candidacy.
A supporter of the anti-police identity group Black Lives Matter, Worrell was suspended in August 2023 by DeSantis, who cited among other issues her habit of disregarding mandatory minimum sentences for drug- and firearm-related crimes, which the governor said “effectively nullified certain laws in the state of Florida.”
Worrell challenged her suspension, but the Sunshine State’s highest court sided with DeSantis, Florida’s Voice reported. The Republican justices found that the governor cited adequate legal grounds for her removal. “These include citations to prison admission data from the ninth judicial circuit; briefing reports from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice; and documents illustrating the alleged harms that the governor argues constitute neglect of duty and incompetence,” the court wrote.
In her place, DeSantis appointed former judge and assistant state attorney Andrew Bain, who promptly notified staff there would be “many changes in the months ahead,” and went on to institute a new violent crimes unit.
Worrell is the second Soros-backed prosecutor ousted by DeSantis after his 2022 removal of 13th Circuit State Attorney Andrew Warren after Warren openly declared he would refuse to enforce Florida’s pro-life laws, even after the U.S. Supreme Court expressly affirmed the constitutionality of direct abortion bans in its overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Warren also attempted to reverse his suspension in court but also ultimately lost at the Florida Supreme Court.
DeSantis’ ousting of two Soros-backed prosecutors is just one bullet point in his lengthy, proactive conservative record aimed at making Florida the place “where woke goes to die,” as he said in his second inaugural address.