Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was found in civil contempt by a federal judge Tuesday after defying a court order blocking the enforcement of a controversial immigration law and publicly boasting about his noncompliance.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who issued the restraining order in April against the law signed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, accused Uthmeier of deliberately misrepresenting her directive. "Litigants cannot change the plain meaning of words as it suits them, especially when conveying a court's clear and unambiguous order," Williams wrote in a sharply worded opinion.
The legislation, which criminalizes undocumented individuals entering or reentering Florida, has been at the center of legal and political contention. Williams previously ruled that the law could not be enforced pending litigation and ordered Uthmeier to notify state law enforcement of the temporary injunction. Uthmeier issued a memo complying in form, but within days followed with another letter declaring, "no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce Florida's new illegal entry and reentry laws."
In her contempt ruling, Williams cited this contradiction, noting that Uthmeier's messaging in subsequent media appearances only deepened the confusion. "This judge is considering whether or not to hold me in contempt. But I am not going to rubber-stamp her order," Uthmeier said during a May 6 interview. "I'm not going to bow down," he added.
In another interview two days later, Uthmeier reiterated, "She's issuing this order and saying you gotta tell them all to stand down. I'm not gonna do that." Williams wrote that such statements were "relevant" in assessing his compliance, stating that his "repeated reinforcement of his message that law enforcement is not bound, intentional or not, increases the chance of harm."
Williams ordered Uthmeier to file biweekly compliance reports disclosing whether any arrests or detentions have occurred under the enjoined law and warned of further sanctions if he failed to meet the directive. "Fidelity to the rule of law can have no other meaning," she wrote, quoting Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass: "'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less.'"
The Tampa Bay Times previously reported that at least 25 people had been arrested under the law since the court's initial stay. Williams noted these findings in support of her decision to escalate oversight of the attorney general's conduct.
Uthmeier's only public reaction came via a post on social media Tuesday evening: "If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump's agenda on illegal immigration, so be it."
Judge Williams also rejected Uthmeier's request to stay the injunction pending appeal. In a separate ruling, an appellate court similarly declined to pause enforcement of the order, criticizing Uthmeier's "seemingly defiant posture" and concluding that he failed to show a strong likelihood of success.
