Florida Can Restrict State Employees Suing the State

In their Ahab-like effort to sink Florida governor Ron DeSantis, congressional Democrats and progressive pundits have jumped aboard the story, reported by Michael Wines of the New York Times on Friday, that the University of Florida has denied permission to three of its professors to take paid outside work as expert witnesses in a case suing the state of Florida over its latest voting and elections law. Bill Kristol has been one of the most hysterical critics, comparing DeSantis to an “authoritarian”:

The critics are missing some important points. To start with, the DeSantis angle is a stretch. Neither the Times report, nor follow-ups by Andrew Jeong and Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, has thus far unearthed a shred of evidence connecting the governor or his office to the decision. DeSantis’s office has said in a statement that it was not involved in the decision: “The governor’s office did not create UF’s policy on conflicts of interest, nor did the governor tell the university — directly or indirectly — how to enforce their own policy.” Sargent notes that the absence of evidence is, itself, being cited by Democrats as grounds for national hearings targeting a single decision by a single state university:

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Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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In their Ahab-like effort to sink Florida governor Ron DeSantis, congressional Democrats and progressive pundits have jumped aboard the story, reported by Michael Wines of the New York Times on Friday, that the University of Florida has denied permission to three of its professors to take paid outside work as expert witnesses in a case suing the state of Florida over its latest voting and elections law. Bill Kristol has been one of the most hysterical critics, comparing DeSantis to an “authoritarian”:

The critics are missing some important points. To start with, the DeSantis angle is a stretch. Neither the Times report, nor follow-ups by Andrew Jeong and Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, has thus far unearthed a shred of evidence connecting the governor or his office to the decision. DeSantis’s office has said in a statement that it was not involved in the decision: “The governor’s office did not create UF’s policy on conflicts of interest, nor did the governor tell the university — directly or indirectly — how to enforce their own policy.” Sargent notes that the absence of evidence is, itself, being cited by Democrats as grounds for national hearings targeting a single decision by a single state university: