A former Florida Supreme Court justice and a former appellate court chief judge have lined up in support of a Santa Rosa Beach attorney who’s the focus of twin investigations after he sued Gov. Ron DeSantis for refusing to shut down state beaches last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Daniel Uhlfelder, who counts  the dean of Delaware Law School of Widener University among his defense team, garnered national headlines for donning a Grim Reaper costume to criticize DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic. As COVID-19 cases surged throughout the state in March 2020, Uhlfelder filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the governor to close beaches and issue a “safer-at-home” order to curb the spread of the virus.