U.S. Lawyer Says Citizens United Ruling To Kick DeSantis In The Butt

The controversial and odious Citizens United decision will actually come back to bite Republicans in the keister, or the butt, as the ruling supports Disney’s corporate free speech and protects the company’s criticism of the “Don’t say gay” bill of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cohorts.

Photo Insert: A caricature of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

First Amendment lawyer Sabrina Haake stressed as much in an exclusive op-ed for Salon as she argued: “When Gov. 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. 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. Restrictions based on political viewpoint have long been prohibited.”

In the infamous Citizens United decision of 2010, the court elevated the protection due to corporate political speech, shielding corporate expenditures for that purpose under the First Amendment, she noted.

“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 but it also arms corporations like Disney with legal ballast to protect themselves against would-be autocrats who seek to silence them,” Haake stressed.

DeSantis and the GOP's own statements render obvious their lust for retaliation, and make clear that they moved against Disney in direct consequence of Disney's politically motivated speech against "Don't say gay," she concluded.

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