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Credit: Edited by ITMGovernor Ron DeSantis and his legal team are demanding that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reverse a recent ruling in a case that ended with the former presidential candidate‘s crushing defeat, insisting that it diminishes his “supreme executive power and broad authority.” This could be a problem for Disney, which is using that ruling as key evidence in its own battle.
Earlier this month, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a surprise ruling that unanimously vacated a lower court decision in Warren v. DeSantis in which it ruled the Governor had violated the First Amendment and abused his power by suspending Florida’s Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren.
Although this scathing decision (which read in part, “the state can’t exercise its coercive power to censor so-called ‘woke’ speech with which it disagrees”) would be bad news for DeSantis on its own, it became an even bigger problem when the Walt Disney Company cited it as evidence in its own First Amendment case against the governor. Essentially, Disney plans to use this decision as a precedent for its own lawsuit asserting that DeSantis used his executive power as a political weapon.
Related: Floridians and Disney Brace for ‘Vengeful’ DeSantis as He Seeks to ‘Burn It All Down’
The Warren decision can be read in full here:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://insidethemagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/andrew-warren-vs-desantis.pdf”]
Unsurprisingly, DeSantis wants the appeals court to reverse the decision that reversed a decision favorable to him, attempting to turn this negative turn into a positive one (per the Orlando Sentinel). At the very least, if he’s successful, he would be taking away a very significant legal advantage from the Walt Disney Company.
Disney has already used Warren v. DeSantis in its own Disney v. DeSantis case, in which it claims that the governor dissolved the former Reedy Creek Improvement District, where most of Walt Disney World is located, as political retaliation.
It has been replaced by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which is locked in its own battles with the iconic media company. The district’s board of supervisors has also questioned the Warren decision, but now DeSantis is directly demanding a do-over.
Florida Solicitor General Henry Whitaker filed a petition to the 11th Circuit, claiming that the recent ruling “stymies the governor’s supervisory power by enabling local officials to willfully neglect their duties for political reasons under the banner of ‘private speech.’”
The petition reads in part:
“As part of the Governor’s supreme executive power and broad authority to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, he may suspend from office any state officer not subject to impeachment for neglect of duty of incompetence…The panel opinion strikes an unprecedented blow against a state’s sovereign interest in managing its officials and ensuring the faithful execution of its laws.”
It could be argued that this is something of a Hail Mary pass for DeSantis, who is trying to get the court that already ruled against him to now decide that he can suspend state employees at will and claiming that the three-judge panel misinterpreted the First Amendment.
Related: DeSantis Board Member Emerges Amid Serious Criminal Investigation
However, DeSantis is now asking for an en banc hearing with the 11th Circuit, meaning that he wants the full court, not just the three judges who previously ruled on the matter, to go over it again. It will be interesting to see whether the court can be persuaded to hear the case again, particularly if it means ruling against its own decision.
DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board of Supervisors have a lot of lawsuits to deal with aside from Andrew Warren; there are three different cases pending with Disney World alone, one of which just recently set a trial date. Hopefully, the state legislature will give him the millions of taxpayer dollars he’s asking for to fight them.
Inside the Magic reached out to the office of Governor DeSantis for comment, but has not heard back by the time of publishing.
What do you think of Disney World’s case against the governor? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.