Disney Sues DeSantis Et al: Read It For Yourself
Photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0
It what felt inevitable given the course of this twisted tale, it is official: Disney sues DeSantis, as the largest employer in Florida takes on the Governor of Florida and a list of government officials.
On Wednesday morning, Disney filed a federal lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, claiming that the governor is harming the company’s business operations.
The lawsuit intensifies the ongoing feud between DeSantis, who is anticipated to run as a Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election, and Disney.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District’s governor-appointed board of supervisors met and voted just before noon to invalidate a set of agreements Disney made with Reedy Creek earlier this year.
The Walt Disney Company announced shortly after the vote that it is suing the governor and members of the tourism oversight committee, alleging the company “is forced to defend itself against a state weaponizing its power to inflict political punishment.”
According to the lawsuit filed by Disney, the complaint describes “a targeted campaign of government retaliation — orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech—now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.”
Disney’s requesting the court declare all legislative actions to assume control invalid, uphold Disney’s right to political speech and property rights, and enforce all contracts under the former Reedy Creek Improvement District Board that the governor dissolved.
“I would say Disney is in a very strong position,” WESH 2 legal expert David Haas said.
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Haas said he believes the suit clearly lays out Disney’s central claim that the governor is punishing the company for opposing the Parental Rights in Education Bill, dubbed by critics the “Don’t Say Gay” law.Statements like this one were made in March 2022: “(Disney) is committed to creating experiences that support family values for every family, and will not stand for discrimination in any form. We oppose any legislation that infringes on basic human rights, and stand in solidarity and support our LGBTQIA+ Cast, Crew, and Imagineers and fans who make their voices heard today and every day.”
“Just given the comments that the administration has made, that this is retaliatory basically. The governor has made no bones about it that that is the purpose of why they are doing it. And frankly, you can’t do that. The first amendment protects that free speech by Disney,” Haas said.
The lawsuit was filed after the governor-appointed replacement Disney Board voted to invalidate agreements between Disney and the former Reedy Creek Board to give the company property rights control for decades.
Read the filing of Disney sues DeSantis for yourself here:
Disney Sues DeSantis
Burt Likko wrote on March 30, 2023 at 5:54 pm: There’s another rule they don’t teach in law school, but which a surprisingly high percentage of lawyers come across at one point or another in their practice. The rule is “Don’t Eff With The Mouse.”Report
I thought it was going to be a link w/o commentary. I disagree with WESH’s conclusions and note that the reporter didn’t include Disney’s promise to ACT on its threat to use the full force of its international corporation to thwart the legal actions of Florida legislators.Report
SCENE: Interior of Bari Weiss’s Free Thinkerz Club;
“Say, what offense against free speech should we write about today?”
*Skims headlines*
Montana Expels Lawmaker For Voicing Criticism
“uh, naw”.
Florida Governor Attacks Private Company For Voicing Criticism
“Hmmm, nope”
Schools Ban More Books That Feature Those People
“Heh, no.”
Legislator Demands Women Members Wear Dresses
“Eh, not our beat.”
“Hey y’know, maybe we just need to do a quarterly edition. Lets break for drinks!”Report
It was hilariously stupid for the Florida government to be so open about their problem being political statements that the Disney corporation made criticizing the state government. If you weren’t paying attention to this, it was easy to assume that headlines about Florida targeting Disney for their opposition of that law was just reporters assuming that, but no, both DeSantis and multiple legislators said that explicitly! Hell, they even proposed oversight of what content Disney makes They just repeated that over and over again, like political speech criticizing them was something that was legally allowable for the state government to punish.
I can’t even imagine where they thought this was going. Hell, in retrospect, it’s pretty clear Disney was just sitting there collecting evidence for this suit.
And I will point it out again, as I pointed out when the Supreme Court decided that corporations had free speech, that the actual thing that the Republicans want is corporations to be able to support Republican positions and not anything else, the entire premise of that was hypocritical to start with.Report