Ron DeSantis shows no sign of stopping his push for an extreme agenda as he caters to the MAGA base. Yesterday, DeSantis’s office announced his administration will promote the same judge Florida residents voted to remove in August after he refused to allow a underage girl access an abortion under DeSantis’s extreme anti-choice laws. 

The judge DeSantis just promoted denied a child access to an abortion.

Florida Politics: “Gov. DeSantis appoints ousted judge who blocked teen’s abortion to new appeals district”

Florida Politics: “Smith ruled in January that an unnamed 17-year-old could not terminate her unwanted pregnancy. In his ruling, he questioned her ‘overall intelligence,’ which he found to be less than average because ‘(while) she claimed that her grades were ‘Bs’ during her testimony, here GPA is currently 2.0. Clearly, a ‘B’ average would not equate to a 2.0 GPA.’”

After voters ousted the judge, Ron DeSantis is now not only boosting the abortion extremist, he’s completely disregarding the interests of Floridians. 

Florida Politics: “Back in August, Hillsborough County voters gave Judge Jared Smith the heave-ho less than a year after he made headlines for denying a teen access to an abortion, citing her grades.

He’s set to leave the bench in less than two weeks. But by then, he’ll have an even better job, thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis.”

Now, DeSantis is setting the groundwork to go even further and follow through on his 2018 pledge to pass a dangerous 6-week abortion ban in Florida.

Florida Politics: “Gov. DeSantis ‘ready to sign’ abortion ‘heartbeat bill’”

Politico: “And there will be more steps by DeSantis to lure conservatives to his side in the coming weeks and months ahead. There are already rumblings that state lawmakers will hold special legislative sessions between now and March to tackle issues such as guns and abortion.”

Tallahassee Democrat: “In Florida, strategy sessions involving representatives of DeSantis, including his chief-of-staff, James Uthmeier, and anti-abortion advocates have already taken place, according to some participants who did not want to speak publicly about the internal discussions.

“DeSantis in his 2018 campaign for governor said during the Republican primary that he would support a law banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat is thought to be detected, usually around six weeks.”

Abortion bans are the 2024 litmus test for Republicans, and DeSantis will continue to chase the MAGA base with increasingly extreme positions.