On that same day, Disney's CEO criticized the new law, vowing to see it repealed. On March 28, the governor signed the controversial "Don't say gay" bill into law, prohibiting teachers from discussing sexual orientation and encouraging parents to sue over ill-defined violations. Several months later, DeSantis made good on that threat. He further threatened that if corporations did display "wokeness," the state would " look under the hood " of their operations, with the clear implication that they would examine more closely business practices previously deemed acceptable.Īlthough DeSantis disavowed any retaliatory motive in his move against Disney, that seems absurd in light of the timing - and his own comments. Late in 2021, DeSantis warned Florida's most powerful companies not to display "corporate wokeness," widely regarded as showing support for LGBTQ rights and racial justice. Although DeSantis was quick to disavow any retaliatory motive in his move to strip Disney of its independent taxing status, his disavowal is absurd in light of the timing and his own comments. Vesting well-funded corporations with expanded political speech rights may have sealed the fate of our rising oceans, but Citizens United also arms corporations like Disney with legal ballast to protect themselves against would-be autocrats who seek to silence them. RELATED: Betsy DeVos and Ron DeSantis: GOP dynamic duo team up to defund public schools Maligned by the left for largely valid reasons, Citizens United has empowered Big Oil, utility companies and other deep-pocket industries to boost politicians like DeSantis, who symbiotically protect their corporate profits instead of protecting constituents worried about climate, even as Florida's coasts sink visibly around them.
In the infamous Citizens United decision of 2010, the court elevated the protection due corporate political speech, shielding corporate expenditures for that purpose under the First Amendment.
Supreme Court vested corporations with the same legal protections as other individuals when speaking on political issues. Stripping Disney of its special tax status in two Florida counties (which both lean Democratic), while leaving intact more than 1,800 similar tax districts in largely Republican counties, is not narrowly tailored to achieve any clear objective, nor is silencing political critics a compelling or even legitimate government interest in the first instance. Restrictions based on political viewpoint have long been prohibited. Any government attempt to restrict a corporation's speech based on the content of that speech must satisfy the strictest scrutiny, meaning the restriction adopted by the government must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling government interest. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party punished Disney for its criticism of the "Don't say gay" bill - in other words, for corporate speech that was clearly political in nature, their retaliation was not just fiscally shortsighted, it was illegal.