Shortly after the news broke that former President Donald Trump had been indicted in Manhattan on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a likely primary opponent of Trump’s in the 2024 election if both are able to run — tweeted that Florida would not help with any extradition of Trump, should it be necessary.
“Florida will not assist in an extradition request given the questionable circumstances at issue with this Soros-backed Manhattan prosecutor and his political agenda,” DeSantis wrote.
The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) March 30, 2023
It is un-American.
The Soros-backed Manhattan District Attorney has consistently bent the law to downgrade felonies and to excuse criminal misconduct. Yet, now he is…
First of all, this isn’t even much of a possibility, given that Trump reportedly plans to appear for an arraignment in Manhattan on Tuesday.
This is, instead, a blatant political move by DeSantis to help win points with the MAGA crowd, as someone who understands that so many Republican voters, even those who don’t intend to vote for Trump, view the Trump indictment as a political ploy. DeSantis likely knows too well the wrath that delivering Trump to the New York courts would incur within his party. He knows the importance of keeping those voters in his good graces as he prepares for a presidential run — particularly if Trump is unable to run.
DeSantis likely knows too well the wrath that delivering Trump to the New York courts would incur within his party.
In the unlikely event that things did come to that — if a MAGA crowd helped barricade Trump in Mar-a-Lago as he hid from the Manhattan courts — DeSantis could complicate things, but not much else. He would be able to make a political show of things and slow the process down, but it’s almost certain he couldn’t stop extradition.
The U.S. Constitution contains an Extradition Clause, also known as the Interstate Rendition Clause, which states that a person charged with a crime in one state who “shall flee from justice” and be found in another state “shall” be “removed” to the state in which the person faces charges. Longstanding federal law echoes this.
In Florida, the extradition procedures have been codified under statute and contain rules that specify what must be presented to the governor in a demand for extradition and under what circumstances it would be recognized. As part of that, the governor can “investigate” the demand, having someone “report to him or her the situation and circumstances of the person so demanded, and whether the person ought to be surrendered.”
That investigation is limited, though. “The guilt or innocence of the accused as to the crime of which he or she is charged” can’t be examined under Florida law. The U.S. Supreme Court has said the constitutional requirement prevents such investigation as well.
There is a more basic issue DeSantis could potentially focus on in an attempt to deny (or delay) extradition: Did Trump flee?
Although he was clearly a New Yorker before his White House run in 2016, Trump changed his domicile to Florida in 2019 and has counted Mar-a-Lago as his primary residence since leaving the White House. Under a definition of “fled” in the Florida law, DeSantis — if nothing more, at least as a delaying tactic — could decide that Trump didn’t flee New York since there were no “proceedings … instituted” against Trump when he changed his domicile.
In this case, the counterargument is easy enough: There were no proceedings because Trump was president, but the conduct at issue predated his change of domicile. So, Trump’s decision to leave New York after a lifetime there could be argued by New York lawyers to, even under Florida law’s standards, have “the effect of avoiding, impounding, or delaying the action of the court in which said proceedings may have been instituted.”
If we were to get to that point, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that federal courts can weigh in and order extradition where justified, so New York could seek a federal order that DeSantis turn over Trump. If DeSantis and Trump forced that step, that would, obviously, delay things even further.
But again, this is almost certainly not going to happen. Trump will be in New York on Tuesday and DeSantis’ proclamations are no more than a political ploy by the Florida governor to win favor with his potential primary opponent’s devoted base.
It is, however, another example of how DeSantis is not a “better” Republican alternative to Trump. He is just different. And the coming months will give us all many opportunities to see how both men ignore the law when it conflicts with their interests and use any legal powers they have (or think they have) to advance the same.
