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Gov. Ron DeSantis probably thought his wildly unnecessary fight with Disney would pay political dividends and advance his ambitions. If so, the Florida Republican thought wrong.
The governor’s culture war skirmish has cost his home state dearly; it’s made him the target of intra-party criticisms; and while DeSantis hoped his presidential bid would benefit from fights against “woke” institutions, GOP voters had other priorities.
The Floridian has even struggled to defend his own tactics. When host Megyn Kelly asked DeSantis in July why Disney couldn’t simply disagree with him without being punished, he denied that he’d punished the company — despite what actually happened.
But DeSantis can take solace in one important detail: As NBC News reported, Disney’s lawsuit against his administration has been thrown out by a federal judge, who ruled that the corporate giant lacked standing.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor said Disney’s claims of injury resulting from the appointment of board members to a new district created by Florida lawmakers was “in the past.” Disney also failed to show damages from specific actions the new board has taken or will take because of the governor’s alleged control of it, Winsor wrote.
Before we get to the flawed outcome, let’s quickly review how we arrived at this point.
In 2022, the Florida Republican signed a proposal that critics labeled the “Don’t Say Gay” policy, and Disney, a powerhouse in the Sunshine State, eventually criticized the anti-LGBTQ+ measure in an inconsequential press statement.
In a normal political environment, the governor might’ve defended his position and expressed his disagreement with the company, at which point the relevant players would’ve moved on. But in DeSantis Land, there’s nothing especially normal about politics: The far-right governor responded to the modest and inconsequential criticism by picking an ugly and prolonged fight with Disney — which included real consequences in terms of local governance — in part to punish the corporate giant for daring to disagree with him in public, and in part to send a signal to others that he’d retaliate against anyone who challenges his positions.
Disney filed a lawsuit challenging DeSantis’ willingness to use state government as a tool of political retaliation, and there was reason to believe the litigation had merit and was likely to succeed.
Judge Allen Winsor, however, came to the opposite conclusion, relying on dubious reasoning.
It’s at this point that some readers might be wondering which president chose Winsor for the federal bench. The answer, of course, is Donald Trump.
During Winsor’s confirmation process, senators learned that the Floridian, who served as then-Gov. Rick Scott’s solicitor general, was a longtime member of the Federalist Society. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights described Winsor as “a young, conservative ideologue who has attempted to restrict voting rights, LGBT equality, reproductive freedom, environmental protection, criminal defendants’ rights, and gun safety. He does not possess the neutrality and fair-mindedness necessary to serve in a lifetime position as a federal judge.”
He was narrowly confirmed in 2019, over the objections of every Democratic senator except Joe Manchin.
Five years later, the conservative jurist is doing exactly what the political world expected him to do.
As for the future of the litigation, a Disney spokesperson told CNN, “This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here. If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with. We are determined to press forward with our case.”
This post updates our related earlier coverage.