Federal Judge Hand DeSantis a Huge Political/Personal Win, Next on His Docket, Disney Case

When The Walt Disney Company sued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in Federal Court, the first move by lawyers representing the governor was to ask for a new judge. Initially, the case was assigned to Judge Mark E. Wallace. Wallace, who former President Barack Obama appointed, had been critical of several of the laws passed by Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature. It was Wallace who blocked DeSantis’ “Stop WOKE” Act.

Related: DeSantis Scores Big Legal Win in First Round With Disney

But after it was revealed that a distant relative of Wallace owned 30 shares of stock in The Walt Disney Company, he decided to recuse himself from the case. But he did not go quietly. He slammed DeSantis’ motion on the way out the door, calling it “rank judge shopping.” It was a big win for the governor when U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, an appointee of former president Donald Trump, was assigned to the case.

But this week, it became clear how big of a win this would be for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Winsor gave DeSantis a substantial political win at a time when his campaign for the Republican nomination for president was starting to flounder.

Winsor dismissed a case this week brought by the NAACP and Vote.org against a provision of Florida’s Voter Registration Act that they said would deny people in Florida the right to vote. Part of the law required “original signatures” on original or mail-in ballots rather than a copy of a signature. The Department of Justice supported the NAACP and Vote.org in their efforts.

The concern in this case was not necessarily that voters could not provide original signatures but that any differences in the original signature and the one on file might cause the person to be disqualified from voting. They based their argument on the Materiality Provision of federal civil rights law, saying state laws should not use “immaterial errors or omissions to deny the right to vote.”

While this case has little bearing on the case brought by The Walt Disney Company against Governor DeSantis, but what does have relevance is how the case was decided. Winsor approved a motion from Florida to dismiss the case without going to court, and he agreed with the state.

There is currently a motion from Governor Ron DeSantis to dismiss Disney’s case against him. Disney is accusing him of government retaliation for speaking out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, known by its critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Disney is arguing that the governor and Florida legislature infringed upon its First Amendment Rights when it stripped Disney World of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.

Related: Disney Calls Out DeSantis’ Hypocrisy On Universal’s Special District in New Court Filing

Disney responded to the governor’s motion to dismiss this week by using his own words against him. Earlier this year, DeSantis said that the land adjacent to Disney World could be used to build a rival theme park or even a state prison. Lawyers for Disney said that this showed the governor was out to punish Disney. The Walt Disney Company also showed that the governor did not speak out last month when Disney’s rival, Universal Studios Orlando, was given a special district.

A decision from Winsor is expected on the motion to dismiss later this month. But this latest decision does not bode well for Disney in this case. However, there is always the Supreme Court waiting for the Mouse House.

We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.