GOP lawyer resigns from state judicial panel over raid on home of former data scientist

After police raided the home of Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Department of Health data scientist who said she was fired after refusing to manipulate COVID-19 data, a Republican lawyer resigned from a state judicial panel in protest.

Ron Filipkowski was appointed to the nominating commission for Florida's 12th Circuit by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Jones' home was raided on Monday, and on Tuesday, Filipkowski sent a resignation letter to DeSantis' general counsel saying he believed the search warrant executed on Jones' home was "unconscionable" yet characteristic of the state's "reckless and irresponsible" handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jones, who created Florida's COVID-19 dashboard, has said she was fired in May because she would not change data to make the numbers look better for Florida; state officials allege she was fired for insubordination. After leaving the Department of Health, Jones launched her own COVID-19 data dashboard, and her computer was seized during the raid. An affidavit attached to the search warrant alleges that in November, Jones hacked into a health department emergency communication platform and sent a message to employees, urging them to tell the truth about the seriousness of the pandemic; Jones has denied the accusation.

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In an interview with The Washington Post on Wednesday, Filipkowski said it "just seems like it's not really about any kind of criminal investigation. It's about intimidation of her and sending a message to people currently working in state government that, 'This could be you.'" Filipkowski, a former state and federal prosecutor who now has a private criminal law practice, told the Post he submitted his resignation after he looked at the search warrant affidavit, and he doesn't believe DeSantis' spokesman's claim that the governor did not know about the raid in advance.