DeSantis and the judge his administration can’t stand

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — There’s no mutual admiration society between Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker of Florida — who has penned many a ruling excoriating the state over the years — and the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis himself will occasionally comment on how he expects to lose before judges appointed to the Northern District of Florida, but that they will be reversed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Late Friday afternoon, lawyers representing DeSantis, including those working for Attorney General Ashley Moody, filed an unusual request that asked that Walker recuse himself from the lawsuit Disney brought against the governor and the state-created board that now oversees thousands of acres in central Florida where Disney’s theme parks are located.

The request contends that Walker, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, may have already “prejudged” allegations made by Disney about retaliation because of remarks he made in passing in court during hearings involving two other lawsuits against the state. “Because that question is now before this Court, and because that question involves highly publicized matters of great interest to Florida’s citizens, the Court should disqualify itself to prevent even the appearance of impropriety,” states the motion.

What the administration’s filing doesn’t note is that Walker has ruled against Florida Republicans multiple times. For example, he slammed the state’s 2021 election law targeting mail-in balloting and drop box voting as discriminatory. He called “stop WOKE Act” state law dealing with workplace training sessions “bordering on unintelligible” and cited the Netflix show “Stranger Things” by stating that “recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down.”

The timing comes just days before DeSantis is expected to jump into the presidential race and it was filed right after Disney announced it was scrapping plans for a nearly $1 billion office complex in central Florida. Disney’s decision seemed to be in the works for some time and even the company says it was tied to financial condition.

But DeSantis’ ally-turned-foe, former President Donald Trump, has already hounded DeSantis over the Disney fight. A ruling against the governor — possibly six or seven months from now — would generate a bit of heat for DeSantis’ presidential effort. Filing the request now allows the DeSantis camp to contend it was preordained and gives them a potential avenue for appeal.

This story first appeared in Florida Playbook. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.