DeSantis Violating Disney’s Free Speech, Florida Residents Claim in Suit

(Bloomberg) -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trampled Walt Disney Co.'s constitutional right to free speech by dissolving the company's debt-issuing district as punishment in a political fight, three residents claim in a lawsuit. 

The violation of Disney's First Amendment rights will result in taxpayers being forced to foot the bill for the district's debt, estimated at $1 billion to $2 billion, according to the suit filed Tuesday in federal court in Miami.

DeSantis, a Republican and potential 2024 presidential candidate, signed a law April 21 repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement District after Disney announced its opposition to the state's new parental rights law that restricts classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Corporations are obviously capable of expressing themselves, as Disney did when it spoke out against the ‘don't say gay' bill,” the residents said in the complaint. “If a government retaliates and attempts to punish a speaker's freedom of speech, they are violating the speaker's constitutional rights.”

DeSantis's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The dissolution of the Reedy Creek Improvement District is set to take effect on June 1, 2023.

According to the suit, Florida is violating a 1967 statutory agreement the state entered into when it formed the Reedy Creek district. The state is also accused of violating the taxpayers' due process rights under the Constitution.

Read more: DeSantis LGBTQ School Law Harms ‘True Identities,' Suit Says (1)

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