Could Andrew Warren’s First Amendment fight help Disney? Ron DeSantis’ tourism board argues no.

The state-controlled Disney World tourism board is fighting back as Disney tries to maneuver the suspended Tampa prosecutor Andrew Warren’s court case to its advantage in Disney’s own federal lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Warren, the Hillsborough County State Attorney who is a Democrat, lost his job when the Republican governor suspended him from office over allegations Warren acted inappropriately. Warren had been vocal about not willing to criminalize abortion, gender-transition treatments for children and some minor offenses.

Now, Warren’s First Amendment court case against DeSantis can go before a trial judge, according to a decision this week from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that slammed DeSantis’ actions. The lower court ruled DeSantis violated Warren’s First Amendment rights although the order failed to give Warren his job back.

Disney jumped on the Warren court update in its own legal battle against DeSantis. 

“The same values are at stake here,” Disney said in court documents filed Thursday.

The entertainment giant is suing DeSantis after the Republican state lawmakers enacted new laws last year that stripped the company of the power to choose its government board and allows state inspectors onto the Disney World monorail for the first time. Disney argued those reforms are retaliation for Disney speaking out against the state’s controversial law that bans classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation. Disney’s federal lawsuit also names its own Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board, the formerly named Reedy Creek board that has since been renamed and reappointed with DeSantis allies.

On Friday, the tourism board filed its court response to Disney, arguing the Warren case is different from Disney’s First Amendment fight.

“Unlike a challenge to one official’s unilateral action, Disney challenges laws enacted by a majority of lawmakers in both houses of the Florida Legislature and approved by both of Florida’s political branches. And Disney’s challenge does not turn on the text of that legislation; rather, Disney’s challenge turns exclusively on the subjective motivations of those who enacted the laws at issue,” the board said in a court filing.

DeSantis, who is running for president, has attacked Disney regularly and accused the company of being “woke.” Disney, meanwhile, reminded lawmakers its one of the Florida’s biggest employers and taxpayers.

“Any action that thwarts those efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said at the company’s annual shareholders meeting last year. “I’ll just leave it at that.”