Narrowed Disney First Amendment lawsuit against Ron DeSantis moves forward

Share
Disney
Walt Disney World entrance in 2010. photo By Jrobertiko (Denis Adriana Macias) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

After U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor found a procedural problem with an earlier attempt, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts on Thursday filed a narrowed lawsuit that alleges the company’s First Amendment rights were violated by the state for voicing opposition to a 2022 law.

The law restricted instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Disney attorneys filed a motion last week seeking approval to amend a lawsuit filed this spring against defendants including Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But Winsor denied the motion because the company did not follow a procedural rule that required it to first confer with attorneys from the state.

Disney moved forward with the amended lawsuit Thursday, and Winsor ordered the defendants to respond by Sept. 21, according to a court docket.

The lawsuit came after DeSantis and Republican lawmakers this year approved a bill that replaced the longstanding Reedy Creek Improvement District with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Disney was closely aligned with the Reedy Creek district, while the bill gave DeSantis power to appoint members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board.

Disney alleges that the change was retaliatory in violation of the First Amendment and should be blocked.

The federal lawsuit had included issues stemming from development agreements reached by Disney and the former Reedy Creek Improvement District board.

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board and the Legislature took steps to void the agreements.

But the amended lawsuit drops allegations related to the development agreements and focuses on the retaliation issue.

At least in part, that is because Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District also are battling about the development agreements in a case filed by the district in Orange County circuit court.

©2023 The News Service of Florida

One Response to “Narrowed Disney First Amendment lawsuit against Ron DeSantis moves forward”

  1. TSO

    I’m not sure who wrote this for “staff” but this might be the most straight forward news reporting article I’ve read in years. Bravo to whomever wrote this. It is refreshing to get facts and not the author’s opinions from a news story! GREAT JOB!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

Counterspin
Player position: