A Florida judge has declined to immediately block a Democratic advertisement highlighting a controversy involving the DeSantis administration.
It comes after the Republican Party of Florida challenged it in court.
The political ad describes how $10 million from a state Medicaid settlement went to the nonprofit Hope Florida Foundation, then toward efforts to defeat the 2024 recreational marijuana ballot measure.
The ad targets Attorney General James Uthmeier, who a leaked grand jury report said was involved in overseeing the money transfer. He was Gov. Ron DeSantis' chief of staff at the time and the governor later appointed him to be the state's attorney general. He's now running for that position.
But an appeals court earlier this month ordered the grand jury report struck from the court record, disagreeing with its language and key findings. That prompted the Florida GOP to sue and say the Democratic ad illegally broadcasts expunged report findings.
ALSO READ: Why the appeals court ruled against the grand jury report
"The Advertisement falsely attributes criminal-type wrongdoing — 'conspiracy, concealment, corruption' — to a RPOF candidate under color of a grand jury finding, injures the electoral prospects of RPOF and its candidates, and forces RPOF to divert resources in the final weeks of the campaign to correct a record that an appellate court has already corrected," reads the lawsuit.
The litigation continues, since the judge only rejected Republicans' attempt to block the advertisement "ex parte," or without first hearing from the other side.
The judge — Circuit Judge Peter Estrada in Highlands County — says the state GOP should "serve the defendants and coordinate a hearing."
The Florida Trident first reported the news.
The Florida Democratic Party is one of the defendants. Television stations are also named. So are David Jolly, the Democratic governor candidate, Jose Javier Rodriguez, the Democratic attorney general candidate, and Annette Taddeo, the Democratic chief financial officer candidate.
The ad listed those candidates as having "approved" its message.
With the report already leaked, Bobby Block, the executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, said "the barn door's open, the horse is gone," especially since the appeals court ruling itself details the findings.
"We're seeing all too much of this in recent years, where people's interpretation of the First Amendment is based only on the things that they want to say and here, and anything else that others want to say and here doesn't apply," he said.
The Florida Trident also reports a GOP attorney sent a letter to stations threatening criminal penalties, saying the party was "referring this matter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and relevant prosecutorial authorities."
"If that's not an attempt to use the levers of state to silence speech that the Florida GOP finds inconvenient, I don't know what else," Block said.
In addition, a state attorney wrote to Tampa Bay area stations to "ensure that you are fully aware of the potential criminal consequences" of running the ads, according to the Tampa Bay Times. A state attorney for Hardee, Highlands and Polk counties sent the same letter.
Meanwhile, the same appellate court that ordered the report expunged — Florida's First District Court of Appeal — has already denied a request from Uthmeier and others to ban "illegal publication" of the expunged report.
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
