The Walt Disney Company confronted a authorized defeat immediately after its lawsuit alleging retaliation was dismissed in a Florida court docket. The declare targeted on the state’s violation of the corporate’s First Amendment rights for standing towards Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” invoice, a homophobic regulation that endangers the human rights of LGBTQIA+ communities and their households.
After Disney spoke out towards the invoice, DeSantis and the state of Florida eliminated Disney’s management of a particular district overseeing its Orlando theme park’s daily operations and infrastructure. The zone is now identified as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which the governor has direct affect over in appointing representatives. This motion then sparked Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit.
CNBC studies that Judge Allen Winsor dominated that “Disney lacked legal standing to sue DeSantis and the secretary of Florida’s Commerce Department” and that its claims “fail on the merits against members of the board of a special improvement district in which the company operates its parks and resort.”
CNBC additionally shared the Walt Disney Company’s response to the lawsuit being dismissed. “This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here,” a spokesperson mentioned, including if the ruling have been “left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.”
As that assertion suggests, Disney’s authorized battle in Florida is way from over. The firm nonetheless has one other go well with within the courts; in December it accused the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District of violating each the state regulation and structure when it failed to show over public information when requested. Disney referred to as for an Orange County court docket to instantly order the the board at hand over “all outstanding requested records,” and likewise declared it’s unlawfully holding again documentation.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has publicly supported the authorized battles, which started when the corporate was below the management of former CEO Bob Chapek. “The company, while I was gone, decided to take a position against the Don’t Say Gay bill that was moving through the Florida Legislature,” he mentioned in November 2023. “The governor got very, very angry at the company when it took that position and decided to punish the company by basically stripping its rights to a special district around Disney World that had been in place for decades … The question wasn’t even about the [bill, later law]. It was about does a company have a right to free speech. And if it exercises its right to free speech, it should not face retribution.”
io9 will convey you updates on Disney vs. DeSantis as and once they happen.
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