Ron DeSantis's attack on Disney obviously violates the First Amendment

[Jilly_in_VA]

By Ian Millhiser

At the urging of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida legislature voted this week to punish one of the world’s biggest producers of entertainment and pop culture, because DeSantis and his fellow Florida Republicans disagreed with that producer’s First Amendment-protected speech. DeSantis signed the bill into law on Friday.

Florida’s decision to strip a government benefit from Disney because, in DeSantis’s words, Disney expressed “woke” opinions and “tried to attack me to advance their woke agenda,” is unconstitutional. And it’s not a close case.

As the Supreme Court said in Hartman v. Moore (2006), “official reprisal for protected speech ‘offends the Constitution [because] it threatens to inhibit exercise of the protected right.’” Nor does it matter how the government retaliates against a person or business who expresses an opinion that the government does not like — any official retaliation against someone because they engaged in First Amendment-protected speech is unconstitutional.

The conflict between DeSantis and Disney arose after Disney denounced Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, an unconstitutional law which allows parents to sue their local school district if topics such as sexual orientation or gender identity are mentioned in the classroom. The law is unconstitutional because it is so vaguely drafted that teachers cannot determine what kinds of instruction are permitted and what kinds are forbidden — although it remains to be seen whether a federal judiciary dominated by Republican appointees will strike the law down.

Florida plans to strip Disney of an extraordinarily unusual benefit it receives from the state. Walt Disney World is located in a nearly 40-square-mile area that Florida has designated the “Reedy Creek Improvement District.” Within this district, Disney essentially functions as the primary landowner and the local government.

This provides Disney with several advantages — among other things, if it wants to build a road or a new hotel, it can approve that project itself rather than going through the ordinary permitting process run by local Florida governments, though Disney still must comply with state building codes. This Reedy Creek arrangement also allows Disney to tax itself at a higher rate to pay for governmental services like sewage and a fire department — according to one analysis, property taxes on non-Disney landowners in Florida’s Orange County could go up by as much as 25 percent if Disney loses its ability to tax itself.

Few Floridians, and, indeed, few major companies, receive this kind of benefit from their state. But the fact that Florida only plans to strip a special benefit from Disney — rather than, say, tossing its executives in prison — does not mean that it can punish Disney for its protected speech.

https://www.vox.com/23036427/ron-desantis-disney-first-amendment-constitution-supreme-court

[Aristus]

1. How long before Disney's army of lawyers files a tsunami of lawsuits against DeSantis?

I can imagine that bastard suffocating under all that paperwork.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. After the weekend, I hope! n/t

[hatrack]

2. "In other news, Walt Disney World announced a temporary closure . . . .

. . . . The shutdown, sparked by the company's need to deal with unspecified infrastructure and safety problems, will fall squarely during Florida's annual travel peak, between mid-December and late January.

Company officials did not commit to a specific timeline for the planned repairs, but unattributed sources within Disney did state that Walt Disney World could remain closed for as long as six months, depending on the complexity and scale of the work."

Imaginary headline from Thanksgiving, 2022

[PJMcK]

4. One thing to be certain of

Disney’s lawyers are working all weekend to respond to this misbegotten effort be DeSantis. The Florida government is about to be buried with legal challenges. The Disney. O pant is far more powerful than the idiot governor.