As we await the outcome of a motion to disqualify Chief Judge Mark E. Walker, Disney has filed an opposition to the motion. In the opposition, Disney says that the motion from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other defendants is “premised on a misapprehension of the law and a misstatement of the facts”. The opposition warns that if the court recuses itself without the standard “high bar to disqualification”, then it would set a precedent that allows parties to “effectively veto judges whose decisions they do not like and shop for a judge more to their liking”.

In Disney’s opposition, they note that DeSantis’ legal team even cites cases where the conduct of the judge was “cartoonishly improper”, noting that the judge in one case launched an out-of-court vendetta against a defendant in a criminal case pending before the court. Disney says that out-of-court comments about a case pending before the court would raise concerns about a court’s impartiality, but note that Judge Walker’s comments happened within the court and months before a case was even filed, much less put in Judge Walker’s hands.

Disney says that Judge Walker’s comments “come nowhere close” to a disqualifying standard.

Judge Walker has said that any pre-trial scheduling or action on the case has been paused while he considers DeSantis’ motion to dismiss. Previously, both Disney and DeSantis had agreed to a series of pre-trial deadlines for motions that would keep this case in the courts through late summer at a minimum.

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