The public war of words between Ron DeSantis and Bob Iger has generated the most attention in the ongoing legal battle between Disney World and the State of Florida, but if you actually read the legal briefs their lawyers have been firing back and forth, there’s quite a bit of heat and sass. Last month, lawyers from The Mouse House accused Governor Desantis of being in “open defiance of our nation’s most cherished liberties,” among many other middle fingers. Now, the Governor’s lawyers have fired back, saying he “welcomes” the company’s “surrender.” They also called Disney’s last legal brief a “glorified press release” as part of their argument that the politician has sovereign immunity and can’t be sued for anything he does or says within the course of his duties.
There’s a lot here and the legal arguments are a bit complicated; so, let’s talk this out and give a basic overview of what’s been going on (or you can check out this full timeline). For a long time, Disney World essentially governed itself through an entity known as Reedy Creek. After Governor DeSantis pushed a new law limiting what teachers can and cannot say in the classroom (a bill critics referred to as Don’t Say Gay), Disney put out a press release saying it disagreed with the legislation. Afterwards, the Governor essentially told Disney the party was over and appointed a new board to oversee the theme park and start monitoring it in a way it hadn’t been subjected to before. A series of complicated, back-and-forth moves then followed to wrestle control back and forth, one of which even involved Prince Harry's daughter.
