Chief Justice John Roberts Just Sent a Message to DeSantis, Bring Disney Feud to Supreme Court and You’ll Lose

It’s June, so besides being the official start of summer, it’s also the end of the term for the United State Supreme Court. There are several sensitive issues that the Court has yet to decide, including LGBTQ+ rights vs. religious rights, voting rights, affirmative action in college admission, and President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.

The Supreme Court. Credit: Flickr

Related: Disney Loses Supreme Court First Amendment Case

None of this seemingly has anything to do with the feud between the Walt Disney Company and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Still, Chief Justice John Roberts just sent a clear message to Governor DeSantis: if you bring your case against Disney to the Supreme Court, you will lose. 

Buried in the Court’s ruling in Harper v. Moore is a message to the Governor and Disney. Essentially, Harper v. Moore boils down to the independent state legislature theory. It is a political theory that says a state legislature and only a state legislature can decide how a state runs its elections. The North Carolina legislature wanted to choose when, where, and how people in the state could vote, but the Democratic governor of the state vetoed their law.

Credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr

This is a big win for voting rights advocates, as there was a fear that the independent legislature theory could have been used to overturn elections based on flimsy evidence of “voter fraud,” like in 2020. But that’s not where the message to Disney and DeSantis lies.

In the ruling for the majority, Roberts wrote:

A similar principle applies with respect to the Contracts Clause, which provides that “[n]o state shall… pass any… Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” Art. I, §10, cl. 1. In that context “we accord respectful consideration and great weight to the views of the State’s highest court.”

Did you see it? Of course not. This is Roberts upholding the Contracts Clause of the Constitution. What is the Contracts Clause? Good question. According to Cornell University Law School, it says that “No state may pass a Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.”

Credit: Flickr, Matt Johnson/ Disney

Sound familiar? When the Walt Disney Company began construction on Disney World, it entered into a contract with Florida which allowed Disney to govern the area of Disney World through the Reedy Creek Improvement District. When Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature passed a law that voided that contract and installed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, they violated the Constitution.

Not only have Disney’s First Amendment rights been violated, but Gov DeSantis also violated the Contracts Clause. This gives the Federal Court judge an out to dismiss the Florida governor’s suit against Disney and allows Disney’s suit to proceed. No one has “absolute legislative immunity” against the Constitution.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.