James Uthmeier is the first Florida attorney general to be found in civil contempt for ordering police to disregard a judge’s order, but he is not the first to have kept his high position solely out of allegiance to the governor.
It doesn’t seem like an attorney general has ever been so ashamed in recent memory. This is 2025 Florida.
This disgrace to our state raises the possibility that a constitutional amendment is required to safely separate the office from the governor. Even for a political post, Uthmeier’s circumstances are far too political.
Following her appointment to the U.S. Senate seat that Marco Rubio had abandoned to become secretary of state, Governor Ron DeSantis named Uthmeier, his 37-year-old chief of staff, to succeed Attorney General Ashley Moody in February.
DeSantis praised Uthmeier as a bulldog, and he headed DeSantis’ failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
However, Judge Kathleen Williams of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida views this bulldog as just another lawyer who disobeys.
For telling police agencies that they may keep making arrests of undocumented immigrants under a new state law supported by DeSantis that she had put on hold, she found him in contempt.
According to the legislation, entering or returning to the state without proper documentation is a misdemeanor.
Williams’ temporary injunction was upheld by an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which also granted Uthmeier’s request to expedite a final hearing on his appeal.
Uthmeier was also chastised by the judges for his ostensibly hostile stance toward the district court.
According to the justices, he may be correct that the district court’s order is too wide, but it does not justify what appears to have been at least a covert threat to disobey it.
In law school, they teach this lesson. A judge’s order can be appealed, but it cannot be disregarded.
That was a mild sentence for him. Instead of fining him, Williams mandated that he submit a report every two weeks detailing if any additional arrests or other law enforcement measures are taking place under the relevant law, as well as the number, timing, and law enforcement agency involved.
She also wants to know about any additional arrests right away.
Uthmeier had complied with her initial directive to inform law enforcement of her intention to temporarily block the new Florida law, which is deemed to be in violation of federal law by immigrant rights organizations.
However, he sent out another notice after the first one, informing the police that, in his opinion, no valid order is now preventing your agencies from carrying out Florida’s new illegal entry and reentry statutes.
In a podcast interview, he reiterated his disobedience by stating that the court may put him in jail if she so desired, but I wouldn’t support her decision.
Williams said that Uthmeier’s statements have impact when he talks in his capacity as attorney general.
Because of his position, he has the unique ability to either strengthen or weaken the rule of law. If he violates a court order, the integrity of the legal system depends on the court’s ability to take corrective action.
Like 42 other states and the District of Columbia, Florida has an elected attorney general. He is one of three Cabinet members that have historically served as the governors’ check and balance.
However, the Constitution permits the governor, as well as the heads of all his departments, to fill Cabinet vacancies without a Senate confirmation vote.
Jimmy Patronis, the former chief financial officer, resigned to run for Congress, leaving DeSantis to fill a second Cabinet post. His appointees will then have two of the three seats, creating a risky concentration of power.
The Legislature ought to think about changing the Constitution to demand Senate approval before appointing someone to the Cabinet.
Richard Doran, the most recent attorney general appointed, had served as Bob Butterworth’s deputy before he resigned in 2002 to run for the state Senate. For the final two months of Butterworth’s term, Doran served.
In 1964, Jimmy Kynes, the executive assistant to Governor Farris Bryant, became the first attorney general to jump directly out of the governor’s office.
Bryant had two chances when a Supreme Court justice passed away: he could appoint a protégé to the Cabinet and remove Richard Ervin, the attorney general, whom he viewed as problematic. Ervin was a justice for eleven years.
Kynes was nine years out of law school and 33 years old at the time. Before losing in a Democratic primary, he served in the Cabinet for less than a year.
In 2026, Uthmeier plans to run for a four-year term. He has yet to face a serious Republican opponent, but he will. The Democratic contender is Miami attorney Jose Javier Rodriguez, a former state senator who lost by a slim margin in a Republican ghost candidate incident.
Instead of modeling disobedience, the attorney general of Florida ought to provide an example of respect for the legal system. Voters will undoubtedly take Uthmeier’s contempt citation into account in the upcoming election.
Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick, Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, and Executive Editor Roger Simmons make up the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board. Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant, Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman make up the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board. Correspondence should be emailed to [email protected].
