A Montana judge has dismissed a lawsuit from Democratic state Rep. Zooey Zephyr against the state House of Representatives after Zephyr was censured in April.
Zephyr, a man who identifies as a woman, was suspended for breaking legislative protocol after he held up a microphone on the House floor to support protesters disrupting proceedings, several of whom had been arrested at a demonstration several days prior.
Following his suspension, Zephyr filed a lawsuit against Republican state House Speaker Matt Regier and Sergeant-at-Arms Bradley Murfitt for allegedly violating his right to free speech.
On Nov. 22, District Judge Mike Menahan ruled that the Legislature does have the right to discipline members who violate the rules, according to court documents.
Menahan said that Zephyr’s lawsuit was moot since the censure period was over and that even Zephyr had admitted that the censure was highly unusual and therefore unlikely to happen again. He also dismissed the idea that Zephyr’s censure would influence how members perform their duties.
The protest centered on a bill that would ban doctors from prescribing cross-sex hormone treatments for minors.
Zephyr claimed during a debate that anyone who voted for the proposed law would have “blood on [their] hands,” leading Regier to deny him the ability to speak on the floor until he believed Zephyr could “maintain decorum.”
Zephyr, meanwhile, was standing in the middle of the room holding up a microphone as the Speaker kept denying him the ability to speak. pic.twitter.com/5G3WZVxkjB
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 24, 2023
Emily Flower, spokeswoman for the Montana Attorney General’s Office, which represented the defendants, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the judge’s decision had upheld the rule of law.
“The plaintiffs failed in their attempt to inject the court into legislative affairs and thwart the democratic process,” Flower said. “The decisions in this case rightly upheld the Montana Constitution’s separation of powers and the rule of law.”
Zephyr did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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