Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) have filed a motion to delay a trial between the governor and the Walt Disney Company until August 2025, approximately nine months after the next presidential election.
Disney, which sued DeSantis earlier this year, has proposed that the trial between it and the Florida governor be held on July 15, 2024, around the same time the Republican Party will select its presidential candidate for the 2024 presidential election. The July 2024 trial could pose trouble for DeSantis, as he is seeking the Republican candidacy for president.
"Defendants believe it is premature to set a case schedule in light of the pending motions to dismiss, which may result in the complaint being entirely dismissed or significantly narrowed," read a document to delay the trial released Tuesday. "Defendants propose that, in the event claims remain after a decision on the motions to dismiss, the parties shall meet and confer following such ruling to propose a case schedule."
The Florida governor's attorneys have suggested Aug. 4, 2025, almost a year after the 2024 elections.
DeSantis and Disney have been feuding with each other since March 2022, when DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which prevented kindergarten through third grade students from learning about sexual orientation and gender identity and forbids schools from withholding information from parents about students' health and well-being. After the bill was signed, Disney issued a statement that the bill should "never have been signed into law."
In response, DeSantis started working with the legislature to restructure Disney's Central Florida district, which encompasses the Walt Disney World Resort. Since then, the company sued DeSantis in April, and the lawsuit alleges the state violated Disney's First Amendment right to free speech, the contract and takings clauses in the U.S. Constitution, and the company's 14th Amendment right to due process.
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DeSantis announced his run for president in the 2024 election in May, ending months of rumors and speculation that he would run in the race. He is seen by many to be the biggest challenger to former President Donald Trump for the Republican Party's nomination.
New polling data released on Wednesday showed DeSantis and the former president neck and neck in a Republican presidential primary in the battleground state of Wisconsin, with 31% of Wisconsin Republicans and Republican-leaning independents supporting Trump and 30% supporting DeSantis. The Florida governor also received 19 endorsements from North Carolina Republican state leaders on Wednesday, including North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell.