Disney sues DeSantis for using government to retaliate against the company

I suspected that they would take a First Amendment approach if backed into a corner. The governor and the state can't claim that any of this is in the best interest of the state or taxpayers, because they've openly said it was to retaliate. The governor is still doing it.

We live in strange times when an elected person is doing anything other than quietly accepting campaign donations from big corporations, let alone the single largest taxpayer in his state.

Yea. DeSantis has taken things a step too far in this fight.

not a fan of government overstepping it’s bounds, don’t care what your political affiliation is.

I hate that reporters keep leaving out that there are nearly 2k special tax districts similar to Reedy Creek. Makes a big difference when you know that Disney isn't special in that regard.

I would hope that Disney would bring that up. Why this district, why now? Because woke or whatever, obviously.

What’s the feeling of DeSantis supporters on the streets there in Florida? Is this really what they want?

or is this more of a ‘one man crusade’?

The_Orient_of_Express:

Yea. DeSantis has taken things a step too far in this fight.

I think that he's taken it right where he wanted, firmly believing that he can eventually get a case into courts that will back him regardless of the law and/or precedent. Until they finally settled, I thought that was the route Fox News was taking with the Dominion lawsuit.

DeSantis loses in court. A lot. But as we've discussed previously, the MAGA base doesn't care, if they hear about the losses at all.

Also, here's the actual suit.

You can view the lawsuit at https://www.documentcloud.o...ght-board. (If I did that right).

I expected the 1st Amendment arguments but they also invoke violations of the Contracts Clause, the Takings Clause and the Due Process Clause. Ironically (or not), all issues that Republicans used to vehemently fight for. We are in upside down world.

Disney has been so quiet these last few months. You had to see this coming.

I can't find the original thread where the discussion with the few people depending the bill was happening but it's perfectly clear that it was never about protecting young children now that it's been expanded through 12th grade.

Jeff:

DeSantis loses in court. A lot. But as we've discussed previously, the MAGA base doesn't care, if they hear about the losses at all.

Also, here's the actual suit.

I like how Republicans are all for big business…..until big business doesn’t agree with conservative viewpoints.

so tired of politicians on both sides of the aisle.

I'm tired of politicians on both sides of the aisle too...and I tend to say that a lot...but there is clearly one party that is doing the most damage right now, particularly in the arenas of human rights and corporate harassment.

I can’t believe it came to this, but I don’t see how De Santis wins this one. It would require overthrowing Citizens United to deny Disney its 1st Amendment Rights and the govt has been so blatant in stating all of this is a retaliation to Disney using free speech they can’t claim they had another motive.

I wish that the media would point out just how many special districts exist in FL in covering this though, RCID was not really special. The fact the Villages hasn’t been targeted while Disney has bolsters their defense.

Overthrowing Citizens United would sure be interesting though – imagine what it'd do to the Republican party :)

I scanned through the complaint (lots of pages, but they are double-spaced), and wow, it reads like the grown-ups just entered the room. Not that his allies will care, but the complaint makes DeSantis look even more stupid. It hilariously quotes his own book a bunch of times as supporting evidence. Disney refers to the US Constitution, while the district lawyer cites "procedural unconscionability" without regard to the law that spelled out the continuity of contracts.

I figured a First Amendment claim citing Citizens United was inevitable, and I'm surprised that it took this long. The second First Amendment claim I should have remembered my college broadcast law class, as we discussed chilling effects quite a bit. It's interesting that all of the cases they reference are newer though, where a secondary threat of punishment indirectly stifles free speech. The other three claims, well, DeSantis didn't read the Constitution, so I get a pass for not being particularly familiar with those.

They're asking not only to keep the contracts in place, but to revert the bills that eliminated/modified RCID. I have to wonder if Disney always intended to go that route. I assume so, but if not, the new board's dip****tery invited a challenge to their very existence.

I think the press, on the left should learn from this even more... do some basic homework.

Because just repeating DeSantis ravings about Prisons, and Taxes, and etc is what he wants you to do, it reinforces he is willing to do anything to stop "wokeness", when in reality he wont be able to do much, and now that he has tried to hard, probably just undid the whole thing.

When in reality as the suit points out, Disney like any other special district is entitled to representation on it, and since they own 87% of the land in the district, they vote them to board.

Also Florida has lots more.

This is on top of the absurdity of fighting the thing that made your State what it is, also its largest taxpayer and employer, and where you got Married.

This is on top of the complete 180 on Manatees and Conservation, and etc DeSantis has done since trying to become T___p 2.0, to destroy the state.

Discovery is going to be insane. Lots of dirty laundry is going to become public.

In my mind, at some point, some of his lawyers would have said "let's hang on a minute - this is not going to end very well for us" but I guess they have lost their sense of sensibility because they are either too afraid to speak up or they have drank too much of the kool-ade.

I hope they go down in flames and we all get to raise a Bud Light to celebrate.

Jeff:

They're asking not only to keep the contracts in place, but to revert the bills that eliminated/modified RCID. I have to wonder if Disney always intended to go that route. I assume so, but if not, the new board's dip****tery invited a challenge to their very existence.

I anticipate that they did intend to revert to the old set up and were just waiting for the board to make today's move. They knew exactly what was going to happen and had a suit in hand waiting for the new board to pull this. It seems Disney cleverly waited until they were out of legal moves before filing suit. I'd say this is a slam dunk case but I wouldn't be surprised if the suit has to go to the Supreme Court. And with the current make-up of the court who knows.

Isn't it better for DeSantis if he loses? If he wins, the issue goes away (well, interminable appeals, etc., but mostly off the front pages). If he loses, he gets to go back out on the campaign trail and talk about how terrible the giant woke mouse is and how voters need to send him to Washington so he can appoint judges who will side with real Americans, pass laws that prevent perversion, and so on.

I mean, that's assuming he doesn't actually believe any of the miedo y mierda that he's pushing, as I assume he doesn't.