FLORIDA —  Disney has filed an appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn Wednesday’s ruling from a federal judge, dismissing the company’s lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies: the Florida Secretary of the Department of Commerce and members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board.

In an appearance at a news conference in Jacksonville on Thursday, DeSantis said, “They should move on.” 

Disney had sued in April 2023, claiming the state retaliated against it for publicly opposing the Parental Rights in Education law — called “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents.

The governor responded at the time by supporting the Florida Legislature to strip Disney of its longtime self-governing power under the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

For more than 50 years, Disney had significant control over its land in Central Florida, but the Legislature dissolved Reedy Creek and replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board in February 2023.

Disney claimed the move violated the company’s First Amendment rights because the governor was punishing it for disagreeing with him.

But a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee has now thrown that lawsuit out.

The judge dismissed the case against DeSantis and the commerce secretary, saying Disney didn’t have standing to sue them. He also dismissed the case against the CFTOB, saying Disney failed to state a claim.

“At the end of the day, under the law of this Circuit, ‘courts shouldn’t look to a law’s legislative history to find an illegitimate motivation for an otherwise constitutional statute’ ...  Because that is what Disney seeks here, its claim fails as a matter of law,” the ruling said.

Disney quickly responded yesterday, vowing to continue fighting the dissolution of Reedy Creek in the courts.