BY HARRY COVERSTON, GUEST WRITER TO THE TIMES
ORLANDO – The evite instructed us to assemble at the corner of Orange and Amelia to march to the Orange County Courthouse for the oath of office of the newly re-elected State Attorney, Monique Worrell. The reminder from her reelection committee, Reclaiming Our Seat, Restoring Democracy, included an enjoinder to “Bring a coat!”
Our crowd of 100 marchers would need those coats. The weather app on my cellphone reported the feels like temperature to be 31F. No doubt Worrell’s many antagonists saw this as a cold day in hell as a devoted public servant, targeted by powerful interests in our state government, reclaimed her rightful seat as the chief prosecutor for the 9th Judicial Circuit (Orange and Osceola Counties).
Worrell had been elected State Attorney four years ago, winning 2/3 of the vote. She came to that position from a long career of public service, encountering the problems of the criminal justice system in Orange County firsthand as an assistant public defender, returning to her alma mater at the University of Florida law school to found the Criminal Justice Center and only then seeking public office.
From the beginning, Worrell drew opposition from many corners because of her determination to change a system obsessed with retribution and little else. Her inaugural speech, which followed the swearing in of her staff attorneys, spoke of considering the contexts in which crime occurs, a willingness to address the problems rather than the symptoms they produce. And she spoke of her desire to pursue a restorative justice system in which offenders can be reintegrated into their communities at the end of their sentences, an approach documented to prevent recidivism.
Worrell was suspended by Florida’s governor after he alleged she was not properly prosecuting those charged with crimes. When Worrell challenged his action, a Florida Supreme Court, stacked with his appointees who had met the ideological litmus test of membership in the conservative Federalist Society, refused to even hear her case, focusing on what they saw as the governor’s power to suspend public officials at will.
As a recovering defense attorney, I found that deeply troubling. Due Process is the bottom line for justice systems operating under our Constitution. Not only had Worrell not been afforded the justice required by Due Process, she had been penalized for seeking to make the system she led more just.
Beyond that, her removal with no opportunity to be heard or defend her actions, and her replacement by a partisan appointee was a subversion of the democratic process. It was the people who had placed her in that position of responsibility. And, not surprisingly, the people returned her to that position the first chance they got. In the process, the paternalistic vision that “Father knows best” was repudiated by the voters.
At least for now.
Watching the oath of office and hearing the fiery speech by Worrell afterwards was truly inspiring. But during the march to the courthouse I spoke with an elderly Black woman named Vivian. I asked her if she was excited. She said she had mixed feelings. “Those people who are after her are so mean,” she said, “and they will stop at nothing.”
Already that reality looms on the horizon. A grand jury convened in Polk County could yet serve the agenda of a governor obsessed with removing her. Whether those who shamelessly abuse power for partisan gain will prevail is unclear. But, at least for this day, it was the people who had the final word.
