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Florida AG held in contempt for not following liberal judge’s order to block immigration laws

June 18, 2025 | | Print Article

An Obama judge on Tuesday held Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in civil contempt of court for not following her orders.

In early April, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 14-day restraining order blocking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new law, signed in February, making it a state crime for illegal aliens to enter his state.

Williams issued the temporary restraining order (TRO) in response to a suit filed by the Florida Immigrant Coalition, according to Fox News.

After discovering that the Florida Highway Patrol had, despite her TRO, arrested over a dozen people, including a citizen, using the new law, she extended the restraining order by another 11 days.

During an April 18 hearing, Williams also ordered Uthmeier to notify all Florida law enforcement officers of her order. The AG reportedly initially complied with a letter to law enforcement, but with a twist.

“In the notice, the attorney general said he disagreed with the order, calling it ‘both wrong on the merits and overbroad on its scope,'” according to The Independent.

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He added that his office would “continue to press these scope-of-relief arguments in the district court and, as appropriate, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.”

On April 23, he sent a follow-up letter to law enforcement telling them that “no judicial order…properly restrains you from” enforcing the new law, adding that he had no intention of trying to “prevent you from enforcing” the challenged law.

“It is my view that no lawful, legitimate order currently impedes your agencies from continuing to enforce Florida’s new illegal entry and reentry laws,” he wrote.

Fast-forward to Tuesday, when Williams asked Uthmeier why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court. She also brought up two recent interviews in which the AG had trashed her order.

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“This judge is considering whether or not to hold me in contempt, but I am not going to rubber stamp her order,” he’d said in one interview. “I’m not going to direct law enforcement to stand down on enforcing the Trump agenda and carrying out Florida’s law.”

“We do have a judge who is threatening to hold me in contempt because I won’t follow an order she has to direct our law enforcement not to enforce a new law we passed earlier this year that says you can’t be illegally in the State of Florida,” he’d said in the second one.

As part of her new contempt order, Williams also mandated that Uthmeier hereby file bi-weekly reports “detailing whether any arrests, detentions, or law enforcement actions pursuant to [the challenged laws] have occurred, and if so, how many, when, and by which law enforcement agency.”

The AG responded to the order by issuing a tweet defending his decision to “defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration.”

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According to Florida’s Voice, Uthmeier has also made the case that the judge’s order couldn’t apply to the police because they weren’t part of the original lawsuit.

“There’s not a single law enforcement agency as a party in front of the court in this case,” he said in May. “And as a lawyer, the first day of law school, they tell you about separation of powers. They tell you that a judge can’t order people around who are not under the jurisdiction of the court. So I’m not going to do that.”

“I’m not going to bow down and withhold my oath. I gave an oath to the Constitution, and that’s where my loyalty lies,” he added.

Vivek Saxena
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