Disney on Thursday appealed a judge’s dismissal of its free speech lawsuit over what it described as Gov. Ron DeSantis’ retaliatory takeover of Walt Disney World’s governing district, as the Florida governor separately called any appeal “a mistake.”
“They were wrong and we were right,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville a day after the ruling. “They should move on.”
Disney filed a notice of appeal over Wednesday’s ruling by a federal judge in Tallahassee, saying that it would set a dangerous precedent if left unchallenged by giving states the green light to weaponize their powers to punish opposing viewpoints. A separate lawsuit over who controls the district also is still pending in state court in Orlando.
Disney had argued that legislation signed by DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature transferring control of the Disney World governing district from Disney supporters to DeSantis appointees was in retaliation for the company publicly opposing the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. The 2022 law banned classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades and was championed by DeSantis, who had used Disney as a punching bag in speeches on the campaign trail until he recently suspended his campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ron DeSantis’ retaliatory takeover of Walt Disney World’s governing district, as the Florida governor separately called any appeal “a mistake.”
Disney filed a notice of appeal over Wednesday’s ruling by a federal judge in Tallahassee, saying that it would set a dangerous precedent if left unchallenged by giving states the green light to weaponize their powers to punish opposing viewpoints.
Winsor wrote that when a law on its face is constitutional, plaintiffs can’t make free speech claims challenging it because they believe lawmakers acted with unconstitutional motives.
Experts diverged on how successful an appeal by Disney will be, with some saying an important question raised by the decision will have to be addressed at the appellate court and others believing the dispute should have been resolved politically instead of litigated.
“I still think that they’ll be uncomfortable leaving in a loophole that basically says you can freely retaliate for speech through specifying a party via objective criteria rather than by name,” Schumer said of the appellate court.
The new DeSantis appointees claimed the “eleventh-hour deals” neutered their powers, and the district sued the company in state court in Orlando to have the contracts voided.
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This is the same kind of loophole that the Indiana Legislature is using to get around the State Constitution’s prohibition against the State legislating individual local issues. Indiana’s Constitution says, "The General Assembly shall not pass local or special laws regulating county and township business. So they write laws regulating “the consolidated city,” of which Indianapolis is the only one. I really hope Disney prevails.