Friday afternoon, FL Governor Ron DeSantis’ office filed a motion to disqualify Judge Mark E. Walker in their legal battle with The Walt Disney Company.
Part of the state’s argument is below.
The Court’s unprompted suggestion, on two separate occasions, that the State punished Disney by eliminating its ‘special status’ gives an appearance of partiality that would lead a reasonable observer to question whether the Court is predisposed to ruling that the State retaliated against Disney.
…the Court even associated the State’s Disney-related actions with potential First Amendment protected activity – being ‘woke’ and making ‘a statement that . . . ran afoul of state policy of the controlling party.’
The Court’s comments thus could reasonably be understood to reflect that the Court has prejudged Disney’s retaliation theory here, and therefore create ‘significant doubt[s] about the [Court’s] impartiality’ in this important matter.
The Court’s comments seemingly reflect its opinion on whether the State punished Disney’s speech by revoking Disney’s ‘special status.’
Ron DeSantis’ move to disqualify Chief Judge Mark E. Walker
The entire 18-page motion can be viewed below.
