Disney v. DeSantis: How Strong Is the Company’s Lawsuit?

NYT OPINION: Disney v. DeSantis: How Strong Is the Company’s Lawsuit?
By David French
Section: Opinion
Source: New York Times
Published Date: April 30, 2023 at 03:00AM

The First Amendment ramifications are substantial.

To understand why Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida should lose in his quest to punish Disney for the high crime of publicly disagreeing with Ron DeSantis, it is first necessary to talk about tow trucks. Specifically, it’s necessary to discuss a case about tow trucks and the First Amendment and how it answers a key question: If the government offers some person or entity a benefit, can it also take it away? The tow truck story begins in the early 1990s in Northlake, Ill. For decades the city had maintained a list of tow truck companies available for use by the Police Department. The list worked simply enough — when the police needed towing services, they simply went down the list before each tow, with the next towing company receiving the next call. While towing companies didn’t have a right to be on the list, once placed on it, the city’s policy was to remove companies only “for cause.” In 1993, John Gratzianna, the owner of O’Hare Truck Service, declined to support the campaign of the incumbent mayor of Northlake, backing his opponent instead. The mayor then removed Gratzianna’s company from the towing list, and Gratzianna sued.

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/30/opinion/disney-desantis-florida-lawsuit.html