A statue of Walt Disney and Micky Mouse stands in front of the Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Jan. 9, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File). Inset: Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Mouse House has struck back at the Sunshine State, escalating its fight with Gov. Ron DeSantis and accusing him of trying the stifle the entertainment company’s First Amendment right to speak out against anti-LGBTQ legislation in the state.
“Disney, of course, has been the central target of the Governor’s weaponized State — a retaliatory campaign he launched because, the Governor’s memoir declares, Disney ‘crossed a line’ by expressing the wrong view in a political debate, which he viewed as a ‘textbook example of when a corporation should stay out of politics,”” Disney said in a court filing Wednesday.
The amusement park behemoth sued the GOP governor in April, alleging constitutional violations and retaliation for Disney’s stated opposition to the state’s anti-LGBTQ “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The governor championed the Florida legislature’s effort to dissolve Disney’s long-standing autonomous economic district, signing a bill in February and replacing the Reedy Creek Development District with a hand-picked “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District” board.
DeSantis, along with a handful of state official co-defendants, asked U.S. District Judge Allen Cothrel Winsor — an appointee of DeSantis’ political rival Donald Trump — in June to drop the case, arguing that Disney didn’t have standing to sue and that its complaints are barred by sovereign and legislative immunity.
In a filing opposing that dismissal motion, Disney rubbished that argument.
“[T]hose principles have no application here,” Disney argued, noting that the state officials “do not dispute” that recent anti-Disney laws passed by the Florida legislature “have caused Disney multiple concrete injuries, including the elimination of its voting rights, abrogation of its contract rights, and chilling of its constitutional right to speak freely on matters of public concern.”
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Disney accuses DeSantis of wanting corporations to be seen as moneymakers — but not heard.
“In his view, corporations must remain ‘merely economic actors,’ and when they dare to ‘become political’ and seek to ‘advance a political agenda’ that does not conform to the ruling party’s program, government leaders are free to ‘fight back’ by wielding official state power against disobedient companies until their disfavored views ‘die,’” the motion says.
The “foundational” concepts of First Amendment free speech rights, the motion says, “apply fully to political speech by businesses. Speakers thus do not ‘shed their First Amendment protections by employing the corporate form to disseminate their speech.’”
In a separate court filing, DeSantis has indicated that he doesn’t think mediation would be “productive” and is looking to delay the trial until August 2025, after the 2024 presidential election in which DeSantis has declared himself a candidate.
Read Disney’s filing, below.
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