ORLANDO, Fla. — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Disney’s free speech lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, dealing a setback to the company’s hopes of regaining control of the district that governs Walt Disney World after it had been taken over by the governor’s appointees.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee said in his decision that Disney had no standing in the First Amendment lawsuit against the Republican governor, the secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and DeSantis’ appointees in the Disney World government district.
Disney said it plans to appeal the federal judge’s decision. A separate lawsuit over who controls the district is still pending in court in Orlando.
Disney had argued that legislation signed by DeSantis and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which transferred control of the Disney World government district from Disney supporters to DeSantis appointees, was retaliation for the company publicly opposing the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. The 2022 law banned classroom lessons about sexual orientation and gender identity in the early grades and was championed by DeSantis, who had used Disney as a punching bag in speeches on the campaign trail until he recently suspended his campaign for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
Disney supporters had governed 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 had no standing to sue the governor because DeSantis had already chosen the appointees to the governing district’s board.
“Because Disney seeks injunctive relief, it must allege imminent future harm … and has failed to allege facts showing that any future appointments will contribute to the harm,” the judge wrote.
In dismissing the claim against DeSantis’ appointees to the county executive, Winsor wrote that when a law is constitutional on its face, plaintiffs cannot bring free speech claims to challenge it because they believe lawmakers with acted with unconstitutional motives. The law that renewed Disney World’s district did not mention Disney by name, but rather special districts created before the ratification of the Florida Constitution, a group that included the Disney District and a handful of other districts, he said.
“Similarly, no one reading the text of the challenged laws would assume that they are directed against Disney,” the judge wrote. “The laws don’t mention Disney.”
DeSantis-appointed chairman of the revamped district, Martin Garcia, called the lawsuit a distraction. He said that now that it’s over, board members can focus on making appropriate changes to the district’s operations “to promote transparency and accountability while bringing more prosperity to more people in Florida.”
Disney said the case was too important to end, with serious consequences for the rule of law.
“If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give states the freedom to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political views with which they disagree,” Disney said in a statement.
The governor’s press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said the judge’s decision supported DeSantis’ belief that Disney is not entitled to its “own special government.”
“The days of Disney controlling its own government and being above the law are long gone,” Redfern said.
Before control of the district transitioned from Disney allies to DeSantis appointees early last year, Disney supporters on the board signed agreements with Disney, shifting control of design and construction at Disney World to the company. DeSantis’ new appointees claimed the “eleventh-hour agreements” had neutralized their powers, and the district sued the company in state court in Orlando to have the contracts annulled.
Disney has filed counterclaims, including asking the state court to declare the agreements valid and enforceable.
Since DeSantis appointees took over the district, about 50 of the 370 employees have left, with many complaining that the district has become politicized and that the backgrounds of the five DeSantis appointees are distracting.
Disney, which employs more than 75,000 workers in central Florida, has said it plans to make $17 billion in investments in Disney World over the next decade, creating an additional 13,000 jobs.
But Disney CEO Bob Iger last year described the actions of DeSantis and the Florida Legislature as “anti-business” and “anti-Florida.” Last year, Disney scrapped plans to build a new campus in central Florida and move 2,000 employees from Southern California into digital technology, finance and product development after a year of attacks by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers.
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Follow Mike Schneider on X: @MikeSchneiderAP.