- Title: Disney has 'strong case' against DeSantis on First Amendment grounds - experts
- Date: 28th April 2023
- Summary: TAMPA, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 8, 2022) (REUTERS) REPUBLICAN FLORIDA GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS ENTERING STAGE ALONGSIDE HIS WIFE CASEY AND CHILDREN DURING HIS 2022 U.S. MIDTERM ELECTIONS NIGHT PARTY, TAKING PODIUM TO DELIVER VICTORY SPEECH (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOVERNOR, RON DESANTIS, SAYING: "We fight the woke in the schools, we fight the woke in the corporati
- Embargoed: 13th May 2023 00:24
- Keywords: 2024 Presidential Race Disney Disney World Florida LGBTQ Legislature Ron DeSantis Transgender
- Location: VARIOUS
- City: VARIOUS
- Country: US
- Topics: North America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00B866828042023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Now that the year-long war of words between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Walt Disney Co has landed in the courts, the Republican leader might find his verbal barbs directed at the entertainment giant coming back to bite, legal experts said.
Disney on Wednesday (April 26) sued DeSantis to prevent the state from ending the company's virtual autonomy in central Florida where it has its theme parks.
The suit comes a year after the company criticized a Florida law banning classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity with younger children, prompting DeSantis to repeatedly attack "woke Disney."
Disney said DeSantis' actions amounted to a "targeted campaign of government retaliation."
The company's 73-page lawsuit is filled with blunt warnings from DeSantis' memoir, fundraising material, interviews and announcements that the entertainment giant had "crossed a line" into the realm of politics and had to be reined in.
Ken Paulson, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, said the governor may come to regret his attacks on the company.
"In this case, Governor DeSantis has made this a campaign theme. It's in his autobiography. He's tried to raise funds around it. It could not be more obvious that when the Disney CEO questioned the "Don't Say Gay" law, it was time to open up the ammunition on Disney," " said Paulson, the director of the school's Free Speech Center.
DeSantis has called Disney's lawsuit a politically motivated attack and accused the company of lacking accountability.
Legal experts said DeSantis may have sound policy reasons to reconstitute the authority formerly known as Reedy Creek Improvement District, but if Disney can show it was done as retaliation, the company has a strong case.
"So the question here in the Disney case about the First Amendment is, has the state taken action against Disney because of the company's speech?", said Leslie Kendrick, the director of the Center for the First Amendment at University of Virginia School of Law.
"They have some special breaks that they've given to Disney over the years. And there are all sorts of reasons that they could revisit that deal. But First Amendment law suggests what you can't do is do that because of the protected speech of the company that you're regulating. And that's the question here."
DeSantis' tough talk toward Disney is cited throughout the lawsuit, including 18 quotes referring to some form of "woke Disney."
The lawsuit cites an opinion piece DeSantis wrote for the Wall Street Journal in which he said when companies like Disney use their power to "advance a woke agenda," leaders must fight back or they surrender "the political battlefield to the militant left."
In his face-off with Disney, DeSantis has frequently adopted the pose of a swaggering gunfighter out of the Wild West. “There’s a new sheriff in town,†DeSantis boasts to conservative audiences nationwide as he prepares to launch his 2024 presidential bid.
News of Disney's against DeSantis brought him a fresh round of criticism, particularly from fellow Republicans who contend that DeSantis’ approach is at odds with the pro-business policies the party typically favors.
"Politically, right now, I think DeSantis still looks at it as a as a winner for him in terms of attracting potential Republican primary voters," said Aubrey Jewett, a professor at the University of Central Florida.
"But I will say that there have been a number of Republicans who might run against him that are beginning to highlight this and say this really is anti-business and this is not conservative in that Republican Party is not supposed to go after and punish businesses just for speaking out about something that they like or don't like."
In a national Reuters/Ipsos poll taken this week, 44% of Republicans said they had a more favorable view of DeSantis because of the fight with Disney. But 73% - including 82% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans - said they were less likely to support a political candidate who backs laws designed to punish a company for its political or cultural stances.
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