Business
Column: DeSantis notches a courthouse win against Disney, thanks to a Trumpian right-wing judge
On the face of it, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis achieved an important victory Wednesday in his two-year battle with Walt Disney Co., as a federal judge tossed Disney’s lawsuit contending that DeSantis moved against the company in retaliation for its criticism of an anti-gay state law.
DeSantis certainly thought so. “The Corporate Kingdom is over,” his spokesman crowed. “The days of Disney controlling its own government and being placed above the law are long gone…. In short — as long predicted, case dismissed.”
Disney was circumspect about its loss. As my colleagues Christi Carras and Ryan Faughnder reported, the company appealed the judge’s order Thursday to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here. If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with.”
Yet there’s more to the story than that. Although most reports on the judge’s decision noted that the judge, Allen Winsor, was appointed to the federal bench by Donald Trump, they didn’t take a closer look at his record. And that record suggests he came to the case with preconceived notions that worked strongly against Disney.
Assessing judges’ decisions by citing the presidents who appointed them hasn’t always been a useful approach; it hasn’t been uncommon for appointees to confound the politics of their appointers.
But it’s been more useful with Trump appointees, because on the whole they’ve been more openly ideological than their colleagues on the bench, and less qualified too. That may be the case here.
Before turning to Winsor’s record, let’s delve into the lawsuit itself.
As I’ve reported before, the issue was a law pushed by DeSantis and enacted by his supine GOP-controlled state legislature that effectively liquidated the special district that the state created in 1967 to give Disney near-dictatorial control over the 43-square-mile site of Walt Disney World and its related theme parks and resorts outside Orlando.
The Reedy Creek Improvement District, governed by a board handpicked by Disney, kept the site in manicured comeliness for more than a half-century.
But the Parental Rights in Education law, which was signed by DeSantis in March 2022, created a breach between DeSantis and the company that is his state’s largest public employer.
The law, dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by its critics, suppresses, even outlaws, discussions about “sexual orientation or gender identity” in Florida schools through third grade and places limits on those discussions in upper grades.
The law was part of DeSantis’ campaign to eradicate what he called “woke” ideology from Florida, a stance plainly designed to appeal to a conservative voting bloc as he prepared an ultimately fruitless campaign for the GOP nomination for president. After some hesitation and goaded by its own diverse workforce, Disney came out publicly against the Don’t Say Gay law.
DeSantis and his legislative henchpersons were perfectly candid about their motivations in dissolving the Reedy Creek district: It was retaliation for Disney’s outspokenness.
In its lawsuit challenging the dissolution, the company quoted a sponsor of the Reedy Creek dissolution bill as saying, “This bill does target one company. It targets the Walt Disney Company.”
In his campaign autobiography, “The Courage to Be Free,” DeSantis called Disney’s position on the Don’t Say Gay law “a textbook example of when a corporation should stay out of politics.” He added, “Disney … clearly crossed a line in its support of indoctrinating very young schoolchildren in woke gender identity politics.”
Anyway, the law passed, Reedy Creek was refashioned as the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and DeSantis replaced Disney’s board of handpicked corporate functionaries with his own handpicked Republican functionaries.
Amusingly enough, one of the new board members is Bridget Ziegler, a co-founder of the notoriously bluenosed book-banning organization Moms for Liberty and the wife of the then-chairman of the Florida Republican Party, Christian Ziegler.
As it happens, the Zieglers have since become embroiled in a sex scandal involving a three-way tryst and resulting in possible criminal charges against Christian Ziegler. He has been ousted as GOP chairman, but his wife is still on the district board.
That brings us back to Winsor and his ruling on the Disney lawsuit. In a letter opposing his 2018 nomination to the federal bench, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights called him “a young, conservative ideologue who has attempted to restrict voting rights, LGBT equality, reproductive freedom, environmental protection, criminal defendants’ rights, and gun safety.”
That’s quite a litany, but it falls entirely within the wheelhouse of typical Trump appointees and the ideology of the Federalist Society, the right-wing lawyers organization that placed many candidates for judicial appointments on Trump’s desk. Winsor joined the Federalist Society in 2005, according to a questionnaire he submitted to the Senate upon his judicial nomination.
As Florida’s solicitor general during the governorship of Republican Rick Scott, Winsor submitted a federal court brief defending the state’s ban on same-sex marriage asserting, among other arguments, “a clear and essential connection between [heterosexual] marriage and responsible procreation and childrearing.” The judge in that case called the arguments “an obvious pretext for discrimination” and ruled the ban unconstitutional.
Winsor also defended a Florida election law that obstructed voter registration in a way that cost 14,000 Floridians their right to vote, with the burden falling mostly on minorities. The law was ultimately enjoined by a federal judge as a violation of the 1st and 14th amendments.
Winsor also defended a Florida law mandating a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion could be performed. He argued that, due to the law, “rather than facing a rushed decision in the presence of a provider standing ready to abort the pregnancy immediately … a woman has an opportunity to consider her decision in private, away from the potentially coercive environment of a clinic.”
Asked at his confirmation hearing what evidence supported his assertion about the “coercive environment” of an abortion clinic, he acknowledged that “there was not an evidentiary record developed on that assertion.”
In his Disney ruling, Winsor found that Disney had no grounds to challenge the state law as motivated by an attack on free speech because the state law was “facially constitutional.” He asserted that the law dissolving Reedy Creek doesn’t “explicitly” single out Disney or Reedy Creek as its targets; even though Disney cited “the clear, consistent, and proud declarations” of legislative leaders that their goal was to punish the company, that wasn’t enough, he ruled, to prove their motivations were “constitutionally impermissible.”
The law, Winsor wrote, citing an earlier judicial ruling, “is not pinpointed against a named individual or group; it is general in its wording and impact.”
To the layperson, that sounds like Winsor has failed to notice what is near at hand, which is the essential element of farce, and in this case amounts to the triumphalist boasting by legislators and DeSantis that they scored a direct hit on Disney as a political adversary.
From Disney’s standpoint, the unfortunate irony is that its lawsuit was originally assigned to an Obama appointee on the federal bench in Florida who had ruled against DeSantis in other matters, but he recused himself on the grounds that he owned some Disney stock. The wheel turned and Winsor inherited the case.
It’s been said that bad cases make bad law, but so can bad luck. DeSantis has won this first skirmish against Disney, but where things go from here is anyone’s guess.
Business
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Miranda Kerr help erase $550 million in medical debt for Californians
Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel and his wife, supermodel Miranda Kerr, have helped pay off $550 million in medical debt for more than 261,000 Californians.
The couple made a multimillion-dollar donation to Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that provides debt relief to people in financial need. The organization acquires medical debt in bulk from hospitals, physician groups, collection agencies and other groups for a fraction of the cost.
“When someone you love is sick. All you want to do is focus on helping them get better,” Kerr said in a video with Spiegel. “That’s why we wanted to support this effort and help relieve medical debt, so families can focus on caring for their loved ones and really supporting their healing.”
The couple and the nonprofit didn’t disclose the exact amount of the donation, but a small gift can go a long way. Every $10 donated to Undue Medical Debt relieves an average of $1,000 in medical debt.
The gift comes as Americans struggle with the medical debt and rising cost of living. California is one of the most expensive states to live in because of soaring housing costs and energy prices. Concerns about wealth inequality have sparked heated political debates about how much billionaires should contribute.
In the United States, 1 in 4 adults are in medical debt, said Undue Medical Debt President and Chief Executive Allison Sesso in a statement.
“It’s a growing crisis undermining healthcare access, economic wellbeing and mental health and we’re so grateful that Evan Spiegel and Miranda Kerr share our belief that no one should go bankrupt because of a cancer diagnosis and no family should have to choose between insulin and groceries,” she said.
Californians whose medical debt have been paid off will start receiving a letter in mid-July from Undue Medical Debt informing them of the debt relief. Individuals can’t request debt relief because the nonprofit acquires bundled debt for thousands of people at once. Those who qualify for debt relief either earn at or below 400% of the federal poverty level or have medical debt that is more than 5% of their income, the nonprofit says on its website.
San Diego County residents benefited the most from the donation with total medical debt relief through the couple’s gift totaling roughly $99 million and affecting 40,369 people. In Los Angeles County, the gift provided $26.7 million in medical debt relief to 17,466 people, according to the nonprofit.
Spiegel, whose net worth is roughly $2 billion, and Kerr have helped relieve debt for others in the past. In 2022, the couple paid off the student loans for the Otis College of Art and Design’s graduating class.
In 2025, Spiegel was among business leaders and philanthropists who helped form the Department of Angels, a group that aims to help L.A.’s fire recovery efforts. The California Community Foundation, Snap, Spiegel and Snapchat co-founder Bobby Murphy committed $10 million to help start that group.
Roughly 200,000 people lost their homes in the January 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires. Spiegel, who grew up in Pacific Palisades and lost his childhood home in the fires, donated $5 million in immediate aid with Snap and Murphy that month.
He said in a statement that California has given so much to him and his family and that he cares “deeply about the wellbeing of our communities.”
“At a time when many families are already facing rising costs across nearly every aspect of daily life, an unexpected medical bill can create financial stress that lasts for years,” Spiegel said.
Undue Medical Debt said it’s abolished more than $40 billion of medical debt in all 50 states.
The electric vehicle company Slate Auto set out in 2022 to make the most affordable electric truck in the country. This week, it unveiled the price tag: $24,950.
At a time when demand for new electric vehicles is cooling and cars are getting harder to afford, Slate’s customizable truck could bring a fresh wave of excitement to the industry.
Deliveries will begin later this year and accelerate in 2027, the company said. Slate’s vehicle is built around a simple concept — pay only for what you actually want.
Buyers will start with a basic truck without power windows or even paint and can then customize it however they like. They can tailor-make their “blank slate” by paying extra for smart phone-compatible screens, speakers, colored wrap or paint. A $5,000 kit even converts the truck into an SUV.
Slate’s design team is based in Los Angeles County and recently moved into a new space in Carson, which employs about 50 workers. The company’s headquarters are in Troy, Mich., and its vehicles will be produced in Warsaw, Ind.
Squeezing out as much cost as possible while making it as easy as Legos to snap on different options has required complex engineering, which is why the company decided to set up its design studio in Southern California. The region is full of experts.
“Slate has done something smart,” said auto industry analyst Brian Moody. “Their EV isn’t only about price, there’s also a strong personalization element. In Southern California, the boxy, retro look will earn it a lot of attention.”
Slate is an EV startup that makes electric trucks and SUVs. Customers buy only the features they want. Photographed on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
The company is building a marketplace of accessories for customers to choose from, including 54 basic wraps that cost less than $500 each. In contrast, a paint job on a car can cost thousands of dollars. The marketplace also offers roof stacks, zip-on seat covers and stereos.
For just under $30,000 total, customers can get a basic SUV in a fastback or squareback style. Whether it’s configured as a truck or SUV, the EV will have an estimated range of 205 miles and will be compatible with Tesla chargers.
“This is the first time in automotive history that consumers are going to get to choose,” said Slate Chief Executive Peter Faricy, who joined the company in March after 13 years with Amazon.
“It started with design, then engineering, and eventually manufacturing, and we figured out innovations in all three of those phases that make the vehicle less expensive,” he said.
For example, Slate vehicles were designed from the beginning to be wrapped instead of painted. The company will offer more than 100 colors of wrap at its launch, or customers can choose a custom color.
Slate did not disclose financial information or how much the vehicles cost to produce. However, Faricy said the company will generate a positive gross margin on its vehicles, meaning they are selling for more than what they cost to make.
“Whether Slate succeeds or fails, it has already influenced the conversation … forcing the industry to ask why affordable vehicles have become so rare,” said Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst and founder of OptiCar.ai. “They are betting on making higher profit margins on the accessories and do-it-yourself angle.”
Slate says it has already received more than 180,000 reservations. The earlier a customer placed their reservation, the sooner they’ll get their vehicle. Pre-orders opened Wednesday for $300, or $250 if the customer has already paid a $50 reservation fee.
Despite the hype, Slate is still a startup that has yet to prove itself in the market. The company has about 750 employees and has raised more than $700 million from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and others.
“For the vehicle itself, the concept is brilliant,” Toprak said. “I think the execution risk is enormous.”
The EV industry has been under fire from the Trump administration, which has removed incentives for ownership and clean-car goals. Major automakers including Ford and Stellantis have pared back their EV offerings, and other startups have struggled to turn a profit.
The Irvine-based EV company Rivian, which hasn’t reached profitability since its founding in 2009, recently laid off hundreds of workers. It launched its highly anticipated R2 SUV earlier this month, which will eventually be available for less than $45,000.
Lucid, the luxury electric vehicle maker based in Newark, Calif., announced this week that it’s reducing its workforce by 18%. The cuts come just months after it laid off 319 Bay Area employees in February.
Faricy, Slate’s chief executive, said the company’s vehicle will appeal to a wide range of customers.
“There will be a lot of people that are attracted to the affordability but have never had an EV before,” he said.
According to Cox Automotive, the average transaction price for a new EV in the U.S. is $55,000, compared with $49,000 for a gas-powered vehicle.
“The EV market at this point doesn’t have a technology problem anymore,” Toprak said. “It has an affordability problem. Slate is one of the first companies built entirely around solving that.”
Sony Pictures will invest $100 million and take a minority stake in virtual reality venue operator Cosm, as the studio continues to build a business in communal experiences.
As part of the investment, Sony Pictures Chief Executive Ravi Ahuja will also join Cosm’s board of directors, the studio said Wednesday. The size of Sony’s minority stake was not disclosed.
The El Segundo-based Cosm currently operates three venues — one at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, and the others in Dallas and Atlanta. The company plans to open additional venues in Detroit and Cleveland.
Cosm bills itself as a “shared reality venue,” and its facilities center around a massive, wraparound screen that is intended to envelop viewers with additional digital effects. The company has largely focused on sports, though it has also shown Cirque du Soleil shows and done several collaborations with Warner Bros., including recent screenings of 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in honor of the film’s 25th anniversary.
“Cosm sits at the intersection of several trends shaping the future of entertainment,” Ahuja said in a statement. “We’ve followed Cosm since before launch and have been impressed with the quality of the experience and the enthusiasm it’s generating with audiences.”
The investment is Sony’s latest venture into experiential entertainment. In 2024, the Culver City-based studio acquired dine-in theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
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