ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ legal team filed a motion Friday to disqualify U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker from handling Walt Disney Company’s federal lawsuit against him, alleging statements Walker made in other cases shows the judge has an impartial bias in favor of the entertainment giant.
The defendants claim certain remarks by the judge made in open court could “imply he has prejudged the retaliation in question.” According to court records, the defendants derived the remarks from “extrajudicial sources” and claim remarks took place at least twice.
The motion states: “Because that question is now before this Court, and because that question involves highly publicized matters of great interest to Florida’s citizens, the Court should disqualify itself to prevent even the appearance of impropriety.”
The DeSantis’ legal team pulled statements by the judge in two separate occasions including in a case against former Florida education commissioner Richard Corcoran, where plaintiff’s said they fear expressing their “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity.”
In the other case, plaintiffs claim state officials would take action against plaintiffs’ schools if they expressed opinions that violated the Individual Freedom Act.
According to the motion filed on Friday, Walker brought up Disney in the context of asking whether a record exists of people taking action against those described as “woke;” and brought up Disney again in the other case, in reference to a pattern of “punitive actions.”
In the first case he asks: “What’s in the record, for example — is there anything in the record that says we are now going to take away Disney’s special status because they’re woke?”
In the second he says: “And then Disney is going to lose its status because — arguably, because they made a statement that run afoul — ran afoul of state policy of the controlling party.”
The motion to disqualify claims the judge made “unprompted” references that suggest the state punished Disney by eliminating its special status.
Spokespeople for Disney and governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fallout between Disney and the state of Florida took place after Disney criticized the Parental Rights in Education Law, which prohibits classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for young students. Critics call the law “don’t say gay”.
The governor appointed a new board for a special tax district encompassing Walt Disney World. Disney then sued DeSantis and the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District in federal court in Tallahassee claiming “a targeted campaign of government retaliation.”
The tax district responded by suing Disney in state court.
Earlier this week, Disney abruptly announced to its employees it would be dropping plans to build a nearly $1 billion corporate campus in Orlando’s Lake Nona neighborhood that would have brought 2,000 high-paying jobs to Central Florida.
