DISNEY’S LAWSUIT ACCUSING RON DESANTIS OF RETALIATION TOSSED:
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed Walt Disney’s lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and members of a state board for allegedly retaliating after the company criticized state limits on classroom discussion of sexuality.
DeSantis and other defendants had urged U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor in Tallahassee, Florida, to dismiss the case because Disney could not sue them over constitutionally enacted state laws. Winsor was nominated by then-President Donald Trump in 2019 to fill a vacancy.
“Disney lacks standing to sue the Governor or the Secretary,” the judge said in his ruling, according to a court filing. The company’s claims against the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board also fail because “when a statute is facially constitutional, a plaintiff cannot bring a free-speech challenge by claiming that the lawmakers who passed it acted with a constitutionally impermissible purpose.”