In response to Ron DeSantis’ relentless campaign against Florida’s largest employer, the Disney Corporation sued DeSantis.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
“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 said in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida….
“At the Governor’s bidding, the State’s oversight board has purported to “void” publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs,” Disney’s suit said. “This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.”
“But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop,” Disney said in the lawsuit. “The Governor recently declared that his team would not only ‘void the development agreement’ — just as they did today — but also planned ‘to look at things like taxes on the hotels,’ ‘tolls on the roads,’ ‘developing some of the property that the district owns’ with ‘more amusement parks,’ and even putting a ‘state prison’ next to Walt Disney World.”
Disney said it regretted suing DeSantis and other state leaders.
“But having exhausted efforts to seek a resolution, the Company is left with no choice but to file this lawsuit to protect its cast members, guests, and local development partners from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials,” the suit said.
The fight between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and the Walt Disney Company is headed to court.
On Wednesday, a board appointed by Mr. DeSantis to oversee government services at Disney World voted to nullify two agreements that gave Disney vast control over expansion at the 25,000-acre resort complex. Within minutes, Disney sued Mr. DeSantis, the five-member board and other state officials in federal court, claiming “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
Last year, under pressure from its employees, Disney criticized a Florida education law labeled “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents and halted political donations in the state — and landed in the cross hairs of Mr. DeSantis, who put a plan in motion to revoke Disney World’s self-governing privileges. Disney’s lawsuit accused Mr. DeSantis of a “relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint.” The campaign, the complaint added, “now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region and violates its constitutional rights.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. DeSantis had no immediate comment.
At the center of the fight between Mr. DeSantis and Disney is a special tax district that encompasses Disney World, which employs 75,000 people and attracts 50 million visitors annually. The district, created in 1967 southwest of Orlando, effectively turned the property into its own county, giving Disney unusual control over fire protection, policing, waste management, energy generation, road maintenance, bond issuance and development planning….
Disney paid and collected a total of $1.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to company disclosures.
“A company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do,” Mr. Iger said at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting this month. “The governor got very angry over the position Disney took and seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us, including the naming of a new board to oversee the property, in effect to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right. And that just seems really wrong to me.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Do people here agree with that?
You go first. Make a salient point for a change.
I agree with the statement.
Feel free to ignore my comments if you don’t think they’re “salient,” li’l buddy.
And the salient part of it is that you think it is absolute. Because context is a word that’s not in your vocabulary. Now don’t keep jumping back every time you see a Black man or someone else who scares you. They’re not the problem.
Make up some other things about me that I didn’t say or do. That’s your second favorite hobby, after trying to stir up racial animus, you disgusting person.
The speech isn’t the sole or even the major legal point at issue, is it? I thought that this lawsuit was primarily about harassment, not about corporate speech rights–in legalese, about tortious contract impairment and interference, violations of the takings clause and due process clauses, and not just about the free speech that corporations do, in fact, legally have. Isn’t the corporate speech thing just the primary PR spin on this for the cameras, not the most substantive legal issues?
Our laws take interference with lawful business quite seriously.
Two of the claims are First Amendment claims.
Yes. See the material that I pulled from the complaint, below.
The Supreme Court already ruled that corporations have rights.
The issue, to me, is whether a state official should use the power of government to harass a corporation because it spoke against one of his actions. These are the actions of a fascist.
The First Amendment rights of corporations are one of the bulwarks against such actions.
They are indeed.
It depends on what is meant by free speech and how it is expressed.
A note of skepticism –
Disney’s lawyers could be angling for greater power in the public square and expect that a ruling would set precedent for that.
In the courts, Hobby Lobby, Sisters of the Poor, businesses against regulation etc. have managed to get what they want. Usually the losers are the rights of women and Black people and, government aide to and protection of the poor.
Disney’s championing of gay rights breaks different ground.
Maybe the corporation is a social justice warrior.
On the other hand, the Gates machine presented itself as into justice and look at how that turned out.
Or really, but do I want Disney to win this one.
“Strong man” DeSantis has a super-PAC called “Never Back Down.” Blind ambitious DeSantis must never get his hands on the nuclear codes. He would put his fragile ego ahead of his people and country. He cannot be trusted to use good judgment. DeSantis is swimming in right wing extremist dark money. His ambition exceeds his talent. https://truthout.org/articles/desantiss-board-of-education-nominees-are-steeped-in-far-right-dark-money/
I thought Trump was totally a loose canon. I never trusted him and it was a total mistake to let Trump even in the same room with nuclear code.
Now DeSantis comes along and he would bunch in the nuclear codes in given have a chance. It hoped that there are military leaders smart enough and brave enough to break his fingers if DeSantis get near the the briefcase.
Here, for your reading enjoyment, is the text of the complaint. LOVELY.
From the document:
CFTOD’s abrogation of the Contracts violates Disney’s rights under the U.S. Constitution, article I, section 10, clause 1, known as the “Contracts Clause.” The Contracts Clause provides that “[n]o State shall … pass any … Law
impairing the Obligation of Contracts.”
The Legislative Declaration takes Disney’s property without
providing just compensation, in violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to U.S. Constitution. The Takings Clause provides: “[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” U.S. Const. amend V.
The Legislative Declaration abrogates the Contracts without any rational basis and for only impermissible reasons, in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The Due Process
Clause provides: “[N]o person shall be … deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law[.]”
Disney’s public statements on House Bill 1557 are fully protected by the First Amendment, which applies with particular force to political speech. See
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310, 342 (2010). Speech such as Disney’s, on public issues and petitions to the government, “occup[y] the core of the protection afforded by the First Amendment.” McIntyre
v. Ohio Elections Comm’n, 514 U.S. 334, 346 (1995); see also Warren v. DeSantis, __ F. Supp. 3d __, 2022 WL 6250952, at *4 (N.D. Fla. 2022) (First Amendment
protects speech “intended to influence public opinion and, in turn, any proposed legislation”).
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000187-be62-dfb1-a5df-fe6fe93f0000
Disney will have some high power lawyers behind them. A lot may hang on how impartial the judge is. The good ‘ole boy network is beholden to DeSantis.
True that, RT! But there are plenty of old boy judges who have a dim view of interference with the lawful conduct of a business. We shall see.
This lawsuit makes my day.
Disney will have better lawyers, too.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Among the young, Disney is not supportive enough of LGBTQ issues. They cite cancellation of shows like Owl House as evidence of a philosophy that is not inclusive enough.
“Disney paid and collected a total of $1.2 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to company disclosures. ” Wow! Maybe they should give the Mouse a lifetime of cheese instead of trying to trap him. It doesn’t seem fiscally responsible to take this on given the tax revenue Disney provides.
DeSatan never backs down.
He has an ego bigger than Trump and very thin skin.
The Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Boyz
I view this matter with mixed emotion. Normally, I take a dim view of deals between corporations and communities. There are many examples of this gone bad. Local tax breaks to Walmart puts money in their family pocket and takes it from the local schools. Then Walmart ownership promotes privatization of schools, both with money and megaphone. Corporations regularly demand things of a community.
There are exceptions. Cummings has funded architecture in Columbus, Indiana for years, putting major bucks into making the town more pleasant. Similar corporation citizenship exists elsewhere.
Disney seems to be a good citizen sort of bunch, according to my cousin, who lives in Polk County, nearby. I was very surprised when DeSatsnt went after them. Then i considered that much of Florida is rural or sprawling suburbs filled with new residents. Perhaps there is something to this mix that makes Ron jump at them. Perhaps it is only that he has an ego that is easily bruised. If that is the case, he might better have tried teaching kindergarten; I hear the kids are sweet and forgiving.
Corporations obviously have first Amendment rights, and after Citizens United, they apparently have the right to bribe public officials with positive press bought with good money or damn them with negative. If that recent decision is any indication, DeSaints better pack up and go home. But there is the question of whether it is OK to be a corporation and disagree with DeSantis. That might be unconstitutional since there is nothing in the founding fathers writings about DeSantis.
A lot of beautiful architecture in Columbus!
Someone’s out spreading the Moronovirus on a trip abroad.
Quotation of the day, from E. Jean Carroll, on the witness stand:
“I am here because Donald Trump raped me.”
Deciding that corporations are a person is a major problem. They already own America and the government. Their free speech and “bribes” are a lot more effective (damaging) than my freedom to speak. So what do we do to make America free again?
RepubliQan mega-donors are fleeing the DeFascist camp in droves. No one wants to subsidize a tyrant’s war against cartoons. Russia Ron is increasingly out of his depth; Disney’s financial clout and importance to Florida’s economy is indisputable. Perhaps he should regroup and come out swinging against Speedy Gonzalez. Apparently he knows lots of “illegals”.
How brilliant it is for a governor to make war on the state’s biggest employer. Sends a message to corporations everywhere. Bend the knee to Ron DeFascist or he will try to crush you. Anti-American!