Disney today lost their lawsuit against Governor DeSantis and his appointees to the Disney World governing district in one of their last attempts to regain control of the special district.
They argued that DeSantis retaliated against them and violated their right to free speech, but the judge dismissed the case because they lacked subject matter jurisdiction, which is to say Disney lacked standing.
Here’s the judgement:
🚨NEW🚨 Disney just lost their Federal case against Ron DeSantis.
It’s refreshing to see that the future of the Republican Party actually wins his cases. pic.twitter.com/PyhjBMgI19
— Dustin Grage 🇺🇸 (@GrageDustin) January 31, 2024
Here’s more from the AP:
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Disney’s free speech lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, leaving the company’s remaining hopes of regaining control of the district that governs Walt Disney World to a separate state court challenge.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee said in his decision that Disney lacked standing in its First Amendment lawsuit against the Republican governor, the secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and DeSantis’ appointees to the Disney World governing district. The separate lawsuit is still pending in state court in Orlando.
Disney had argued that legislation signed by DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that transferred control of the Disney World governing district from Disney supporters to DeSantis appointees was in retaliation for the company publicly opposing the state’s so-called “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 recently suspended his campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Disney supporters had run the district, which provides municipal services such as firefighting, planning and mosquito control, for more than five decades after the Legislature created it in 1967.
Winsor, who was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2019, said in his decision that Disney didn’t have standing to sue the governor because DeSantis already had picked the appointees to the board of the governing district.