MIKE SCHNEIDER
Updated Sat, September 30, 2023
FILE - Crowds fill Main Street USA in front of Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom on the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Oct. 1, 2021. Facing backlash, Walt Disney World’s governing district will pay a stipend to employees whose free passes and discounts to the theme park resort were eliminated under a policy made by a new district administrator and board members who are allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The legal fights between Disney and Gov. Ron DeSantis ratcheted up this week.
The Florida governor asked that the company's First Amendment lawsuit against him be tossed from federal court, and Disney demanded emails, texts and other communications from the governor's office in a separate state court lawsuit originally brought by DeSantis appointees of Walt Disney World's governing district.
The legal filings marked an escalation in the battle between the entertainment giant and DeSantis, a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. The confrontation started last year when Disney publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, and DeSantis retaliated by taking over the governing district that provides municipal services for the 25,000-acre (10,117-hectare) Disney World theme park resort in Florida.
Disney has sued DeSantis in federal court, claiming the governor violated its free speech rights by punishing it for expressing opposition to the law.
On Thursday, DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, the governing district made up of DeSantis appointees, asked a federal judge to throw out Disney’s First Amendment lawsuit, calling it meritless and “a last-ditch effort to reinstate its corporate kingdom.”
“Although Disney has grabbed headlines by suing the Governor, Disney — like many litigants before it who have challenged Florida’s laws — has no basis for doing so,” DeSantis' motion said.
Meanwhile, the governing district now controlled by DeSantis appointees has sued Disney in state court. The suit is an attempt to void prior agreements, made before the DeSantis appointees took over, that shifted control over design and construction to Disney from the district and prohibited the district from using the likeness of Disney characters or other intellectual property without Disney's permission. Disney filed counterclaims that include asking a state court to declare the agreements valid and enforceable. The company amended those counterclaims on Thursday, saying the DeSantis-controlled district was in violation of the U.S. Constitution stipulations on contracts and due process.
Disney also sent a notice to DeSantis' office demanding internal communications, including text messages and emails, and documents regarding the district's comprehensive plan, the development agreements and the legislation that shifted control of the district to DeSantis. The notice said a subpoena would be issued requiring the governor's office to turn over the materials to Disney's attorneys by Oct. 27.
The Disney attorneys also sent notices of subpoenas to others, including similar special districts in Florida. Disney wants to show that the manner in which it gave public notice about the agreements which stripped the DeSantis allies of design and construction powers was consistent with what other districts do. The DeSantis allies are arguing that one of the reasons the agreements should be invalidated is they weren't properly publicized.
In response to the demand for communications and documents, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said that some of Disney's requests were “overbroad, unduly oppressive, and an improper fishing expedition.”
___
Follow Mike Schneider on X, formerly known as Twitter: @MikeSchneiderAP.
Associated Press
Sun, October 1, 2023
A student makes her way past the sign at New College of Florida, Jan. 20, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. Attorneys for New College of Florida, the traditionally progressive public liberal arts college which was taken over by allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his “war on woke,” last week threatened to sue a group of former faculty members and students. It's because they have formed an alternative online institute named “Alt New College” after departing the school following the takeover.
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) — Attorneys for New College of Florida, the traditionally progressive public liberal arts college that was taken over by allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his “war on woke,” last week threatened to sue a group of former faculty members and students who have formed an alternative online institute named “Alt New College" after departing the school following the takeover.
Alt New College says on its website that it was created to teach free and subsidized courses and to preserve the original educational philosophy of the school following the “hostile takeover” of New College of Florida earlier this year.
“Over time, we hope to build an online institute that helps protect other communities facing similar attacks,” the Alt New College website said. “What is happening at New College of Florida is part of a national strategy to overtake public education and subvert a fundamental pillar of democracy.”
Among those backing the effort are former New College provosts, Bard College in New York and PEN America, a free expression advocacy group.
But attorneys for Sarasota, Florida-based New College said in a letter last Thursday that the online institute may be violating the school’s trademark and is likely to cause confusion. The attorneys demanded that Alt New College stop using the “New College” name.
“These actions have caused and will cause damage and irreparable harm to New College,” the letter said.
New College has become a focal point of a campaign by DeSantis, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, to rid higher education in the state of what he calls left-leaning “woke” indoctrination on campuses.
New trustees allied with DeSantis fired the school’s president in favor of former state House Speaker Richard Corcoran as interim president and scrapped the college’s small office of diversity, equity and inclusion. The trustees also have denied tenure to five professors despite criticism that such a move poses a threat to academic freedom.
More than a third of the school's faculty members have left following the change and scores of students also have transferred.
The conservative takeover has gained national attention, prompting a visit in April by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California in which he sharply criticized DeSantis and the changes under way at New College.
No comments:
Post a Comment