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Topline
Disney’s lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and board members he appointed to oversee Walt Disney World’s special district will now be heard by a Trump-appointed judge who previously threw out a challenge to the law that’s at the center of the company and state’s dispute, after the judge initially assigned to the case removed himself late Thursday.
Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World on March 3, 2022 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Getty Images for Disney Dreamers Academy
Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, an Obama appointee, was initially assigned to the lawsuit, in which Disney alleges DeSantis violated the company’s constitutional rights by punishing it for opposing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, known by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”
DeSantis had asked the court for Walker to be removed from the case because he had previously referenced Disney and DeSantis’ feud during hearings in other cases, and while Walker denied that motion Thursday—saying the governor’s request was “nothing more than rank judge-shopping”—he removed himself from the case anyway.
Walker removed himself after learning one of his relatives owns 30 shares of stock in the Walt Disney Company, which could be affected by the outcome of the case and thus violate the code of conduct for federal judges and its prohibition on them hearing cases where their family has a financial interest in the outcome.
The case was reassigned to U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump after previously serving as a state appeals court judge and as Florida’s Solicitor General under former Attorney General Pam Bondi (R).
Winsor previously threw out a lawsuit that challenged the Parental Rights in Education law on two occasions, ruling that the plaintiffs who brought the case didn’t have standing to challenge the law and their arguments for why the law was damaging to them were insufficient.
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DeSantis’ office and Disney have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Crucial Quote
“Even though I believe it is highly unlikely that these proceedings will have a substantial effect on The Walt Disney Company, I choose to err on the side of caution—which, here, is also the side of judicial integrity—and disqualify myself,” Walker wrote in his decision removing himself from the Disney case. “Maintaining public trust in the judiciary is paramount, perhaps now more than ever in the history of our Republic.”
What To Watch For
Disney’s lawsuit against DeSantis is still pending in court and is likely to take a while before it’s resolved. The lawsuit asks for the court to leave in place a development agreement between Walt Disney World and the special district that oversees it that takes away much of the special district’s powers, as well as strike down the law that overhauled Walt Disney World’s special district and replaced its board with DeSantis appointees. Legal experts have said it’s hard to say how the case will turn out, noting to the Wall Street Journal that the case involves a lot of thorny legal issues that could be harder to prove in court. “It’s very easy to know that DeSantis is retaliating against Disney for its political views and political activity, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to show it legally in a case,” Emory University law professor Alexander Volokh told the Journal. DeSantis’ board appointees have also separately countersued Disney in state court, which also remains pending.
Key Background
Disney went to court against the Florida government a year into DeSantis’ feud with the media giant, which began when Disney publicly spoke out against the Parental Rights in Education law when it was enacted in March 2022. DeSantis and Florida Republicans retaliated against the company by enacting a law that would dissolve the special district that oversees Walt Disney World, before reversing course and passing a subsequent law that kept the district in place but replaced its board with DeSantis appointees. Tensions then escalated when the new board members discovered the outgoing board—made up of members Disney voted into power—signed the development agreement with the company. Disney filed its lawsuit in April minutes after the DeSantis-appointed board voted to get rid of that agreement, alleging the Florida government had infringed on Disney’s First Amendment rights with its “targeted campaign of government retaliation.” DeSantis and his allies have remained defiant in the face of Disney’s litigation, passing legislation that would nullify the development agreement and defending it through the board’s countersuit in state court.
Further Reading
DeSantis Board Countersues Disney: Here’s A Time Line Of Florida’s War With The Mouse Over Special District (Forbes)
Disney Sues DeSantis After Board Votes To Get Rid Of Special Agreement (Forbes)
