Q&A – Florida’s AG Has Been Held in Contempt, What Happens Now? – Driven By Braman Motorcars
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Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio With Florida’s AG held in contempt, what happens now? Will this leftist judge try to put him in jail?
Bottom Line: So yes, on Tuesday Obama-appointed Judge Kathleen Williams held Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier in contempt of court for failure to comply with the judge’s previous ruling. The judge stated Florida’s newest immigration law, tasking state and local law enforcement with enforcement measures for those lacking lawful status within the state, was unconstitutional. For now, the order by Judge Williams is for AG Uthmeier to file biweekly reports showing any arrests, detentions, or law enforcement actions pertaining to immigration law starting July 1st. In the event any arrests are made of illegal immigrants entering Florida, under the state’s most recent immigration law, that’s to be detailed to the judge in the reports.
For now, that may be the extent of the “punishment” of the initial contempt ruling for Uthmeier. For his part, Uthmeier said he’ll appeal the judge’s ruling as he maintains that the lawsuit filed by the ACLU, that triggered the judge’s decision, was made without standing and thus should have been dismissed. Specifically, Uthmeier has stated that no law enforcement agencies or officers were sued by the ACLU, and therefore aren’t bound by the judge’s order. We’ll see what happens with the appeals process from here and also about what is or isn’t filed on July 1st by the AG’s office, if an appeal decision isn’t reached by that date. As for the legal implications going forward, if for example, the judge determines Uthmeier to be noncompliant...
There are two types of contempt rules:
- Civil Contempt: This occurs when there is failure to comply with a court order or interference with the court's ability to function. The purpose is to compel compliance or remedy the violation.
- Criminal Contempt: This involves willful disobedience or actions that disrespect the court’s authority (obstructing justice or defying a court order intentionally). It’s punitive rather than remedial.
Williams held Uthmeier in civil contempt. From the perspective of punitive outcomes, this is important because the purpose of a civil contempt ruling is coercion, or in this case to compel the AG to comply with a court order as opposed to forced compliance which is when jail time is under consideration. On that note...
There are three levels of punishment that can be rendered for civil contempt rulings:
- Fines: The court may impose monetary penalties, paid to the court or the opposing party, until compliance is achieved (given that there is no opposing party in this instance that aspect wouldn’t apply)
- Sanctions: The court may impose restrictions or other penalties to enforce the order.
- Imprisonment: As a final remedy, jail time could be ordered
The initial ruling, with the ordering of biweekly reporting to the court, falls into the “sanctions” bucket. In general, fewer than 5% of civil contempt rulings lead to eventual jail time. Even more rare is the occurrence of a state’s attorney general serving jail time over a contempt ruling. It’s never happened in American history. That obviously doesn’t mean that it couldn’t happen. There’s a first for everything, right? However, it does illustrate the likelihood that whatever transpires here might arrive at that level.
Given the position in question, the top law enforcement official for the third largest state in the country, and the unprecedented context, it would likely require the AG to continue to violate a federal appeal or even Supreme Court ruling to arrive at the level of imprisonment. Uthmeier has dug in his heels on the lack of legitimacy he believes that there is with the lawsuit that triggered the ruling and thus the ruling itself. It’ll be interesting to see what happens from here. If you see or hear of FHP still enforcing Florida’s immigration law, you’ll know the answer.