On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s attorneys will petition a federal judge to vacate a free speech lawsuit initiated by Disney.
The lawsuit was filed subsequent to the Florida governor assuming control of the governing district of Walt Disney World, which was motivated by the company’s opposition to a state law prohibiting early grades classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The forthcoming hearing marks the inaugural occasion that oral arguments will be presented in federal court in Tallahassee concerning Disney’s contention that DeSantis unlawfully employed state powers to penalize the entertainment behemoth.
Attorneys for the governor contend that the case ought to be dismissed on the grounds that DeSantis is immune from government oversight of Disney supporters because he does not enforce any of the laws that removed such oversight.
Who controls the governing district that provides municipal services such as planning, mosquito control, and firefighting in the approximately 40 square miles that comprise Disney World in central Florida could be determined by the decision rendered by U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor.
In 2019, Winsor was designated for the bench by President Donald Trump.
Additionally, Disney and DeSantis appointees are engaged in a dispute over district control in an Orlando state court lawsuit.
Disney lacks standing to file the federal litigation, according to DeSantis, who has argued that it ought to be dismissed. DeSantis claims that neither the governor nor the secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, who is also named in the lawsuit, have the authority to enforce the laws that were passed to appoint the governor’s appointees to the district’s board and to restructure the Disney World government.
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