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Background: Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier at a press conference on June 14, 2025 (AG James Uthmeier/Facebook). Left inset: President Donald Trump watches as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent participates in a ceremonial swearing in of Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). Right inset: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting a raid (Fox News/YouTube).
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier felt the legal wrath of a federal judge on Tuesday, with the jurist quoting lessons from Humpty Dumpty and children”s author Lewis Carroll as she found the AG in contempt of court for his “unwillingness” to follow an order stopping local immigration arrests from being carried out under a new state law.
“Over a century ago, author and sometime logician Lewis Carroll guided readers through the looking glass,” said U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the conclusion of her 27-page contempt ruling, which quotes Humpty and his “mastery of words” directly to express Williams’ point, as the judge puts it.
“‘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,'” Williams wrote. “‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ The answer then, as now, is no. Litigants cannot change the plain meaning of words as it suits them, especially when conveying a court’s clear and unambiguous order.”
Williams added, “Fidelity to the rule of law can have no other meaning.”
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The legislation, signed into effect by Gov. Ron DeSantis in February, gave local law enforcement the power to arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants. It is a first-degree misdemeanor for a person to enter Florida as an “unauthorized alien” under the law.
Back in early April, Williams — a Barack Obama appointee — issued a 14-day stay on the new legislation.
When the judge ordered the legislation not to be enforced, she argued that it was the federal government’s responsibility to apprehend and litigate migrants, not individual states. She extended her order on April 18 and then issued a preliminary injunction on April 29, noting how the new law was “likely” unconstitutional. Immigration advocates accused Uthmeier of committing “quintessential contempt of court” by defying Williams’ rulings after he sent letters to Florida authorities — first directing them to not enforce the law on April 18, then ordering them to do so as they please on April 23, claiming he “cannot prevent” the arrests as attorney general in a reworded email.
The judge ordered Uthmeier to explain why he should not be held in contempt, which he did at a hearing and in filings.
Williams said Tuesday that Uthmeier ultimately failed to make a convincing argument that letters he sent to Florida authorities on April 18 and April 23 weren’t evidence of him flouting her injunction.
“This language is a direct contradiction of his prior notice to law enforcement agency heads that they should ‘instruct [their] officers and agents to comply with Judge Williams’ directives,'” Williams said.
“That ‘law enforcement officers should take no steps to enforce’ the law,” she added, quoting Uthmeier’s letters. “In fact, it is difficult to imagine language better crafted to reverse officers’ understanding of whether they are bound by the TRO short of ‘I hereby … inform you that no court order prohibits your enforcement.”
Uthmeier’s sanctions include biweekly reports that Uthmeier must now file about arrests, detentions or any other police actions taking place under Florida’s new immigration enforcement law. The AG’s office referenced a statement that Uthmeier provided on X Tuesday when reached for comment by Law&Crime.
“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,” he said.
Williams’ ruling comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit delivered a sharp rebuke earlier this month to Uthmeier over his stonewalling and scolded him for making “a veiled threat” to defy Williams’ original order blocking local immigrant arrests. Uthmeier has claimed that Florida’s new law “tracks federal law to a tee” and “retains federal-law defenses.”
Williams wrote Tuesday that if Uthmeier wanted law enforcement to understand his position that he “does not control them” because police agencies are independent from the attorney general — under Florida’s constitutional and statutory framework — he should have made that explicitly clear.
“He should have said exactly that rather than cast the Court’s order as illegitimate,” Williams said, blasting Uthmeier for “grasping at semantic straws.”
“To be clear, the court is unconcerned with Uthmeier’s criticism and disapproval of the court and the court’s Order. But respect for the integrity of court orders is of paramount importance,” the judge explained. “Within the bounds of the local rules and professional rules of conduct, Uthmeier is free to broadcast his continued appeal of the court’s injunction and his view that the Court’s rulings are erroneous. However, when instructed to inform law enforcement that they are proscribed from enforcing an enjoined law, he may not tell them otherwise.”
