Experts say DeSantis may regret his words in Disney suit, U.S. court upholds Florida voting law, and law schools that aced the 2022 job market ??

?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here are today's top legal stories:

?? DeSantis' tough words may come back to haunt him in Disney lawsuit, experts say

The Walt Disney Company on Wednesday?sued?Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to prevent the state from ending the company's virtual autonomy in central Florida where it has its theme parks.

The suit comes a year after the company criticized a Florida law banning classroom discussion of sexuality and gender identity with younger children, prompting DeSantis to repeatedly attack "woke Disney."

Disney said DeSantis' actions amounted to a "targeted campaign of government retaliation."

The fallout between Florida's biggest employer and its governor with presidential aspirations began last year.

Pressured by its employees, Disney spoke out against the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed by critics as the "don't say gay" bill.

DeSantis hit back, marshaling the Republican legislature to eventually seize control from the company of the special district that helped develop Disney World.

Legal experts said DeSantis may have sound policy reasons to reconstitute the authority formerly known as Reedy Creek Improvement District, but if Disney can show it was done as retaliation, the company has a strong case.

Ken Paulson, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, said the governor may come to regret his attacks on the company.

"There's a very good chance that he's going to pay for those in a court of law," said Paulson, the director of the school's Free Speech Center.

??? U.S. appeals court upholds Florida voting law that judge found discriminatory

An 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, in a split 2-1 decision, on Thursday upheld several Republican-backed voting restrictions in Florida, overruling a lower court judge who had found the laws intentionally discriminated against minority voters.

The panel said the evidence did not show that lawmakers deliberately targeted Black voters when they passed provisions limiting the use of ballot drop boxes, barring third-party organizations from collecting voter registration forms, and preventing people from engaging with voters in line.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who is likely to launch a bid for the 2024 presidential race, signed the restrictions into law in 2021 amid a national push by Republicans for new limits in the wake of former President Donald Trump's false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

The two judges in the majority, William Pryor and Britt Grant, were both nominated by Republican presidents; the dissenting judge, Jill Pryor, who is not related to William Pryor, was nominated by a Democrat.

??? US Senate panel seeks ethics details from Supreme Court

The Senate Judiciary Committee called on SCOTUS Justice John Roberts to provide details about the top court's ethics practices. This comes after Roberts declined to attend a hearing on reports that raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.

This comes after Roberts?declined?a request to appear before the May 2 hearing following recent media reports that raised concerns about transactions involving U.S. justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, instead issuing a statement that he said reflected the court's stance.

"The statement of principles raises more questions than it resolves, and we request that you respond to several key questions," the panel’s chief Dick Durbin said in a letter to Roberts.

News outlet ProPublica reported earlier this month that Thomas had not disclosed expensive trips from Republican donor and real estate magnate Harlan Crow, who also purchased property from the justice.

Durbin asked Roberts to respond by May 1.

The "answers will inform the Committee’s work on legislation that seeks to ensure that the ethical obligations and practices of the Justices are at least on par with those that govern the rest of the federal judiciary and the federal government generally,” said Durbin.

?? These law schools aced the job market in 2022

More than 95% of the 2022 juris doctors of the University of Virginia School of Law secured permanent, full-time jobs that require passing the bar — the most among all 197 American Bar Association-accredited law schools, new figures show.

Virginia, with 95.41% of 2022 graduates in legal jobs, unseated Columbia Law School, which?held the top spot?for jobs among 2021 law graduates. It was a tight race at the top. Duke Law School, at 95.33%, and Columbia, at 95.21%, came within a half-percentage point of Virginia's results.

The ABA on Tuesday released a wealth of data on the class of 2022's employment outcomes, and the numbers reflect a?strong job market?for those graduates. Nearly 78% of last year's new JDs found employment that requires bar passage within 10 months of leaving campus. That employment rate was higher than the class of 2019, which was the last cohort to enter the job market before the COVID pandemic.

An analysis of the ABA's data by Reuters showed that eight of the so-called T-14 schools, ranked in the top 14 by U.S. News & World Report, were among the 20 schools with the highest percentage of 2021 graduates in permanent, full-time jobs that require bar passage. That's down from 10 the previous year.

?? That's all for today! Thank you for reading?The Legal File, and have a great weekend!

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