Montana lawmaker Zooey Zephyr suing state legislature over GOP censure
Eden Villalovas
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Montana state Democratic Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is transgender, has filed a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union after being censured by the GOP-led state legislature.
“I’m suing,” Zephyr wrote on Twitter. “The recent actions violate my 1st amendment rights, as well as the rights of my 11,000 constituents to representation. Montana’s State House is the people’s House, not Speaker Regier’s, and I’m determined to defend the right of the people to have their voices heard.”
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SECRETARY QUITS TO JOIN CENSURED LAWMAKER’S STAFF AS NATION SHOWS SUPPORT
Montana House Republicans voted to censure Zephyr on April 26. The decision came after protests broke out on the House floor in support of Zephyr’s opposition to Senate Bill 99, a bill restricting hormone treatments or gender surgeries for minors.
One day after being banned, Zephyr continued to work on a bench outside the House door, saying in a Tweet, “Though they initially tried to have me removed from the public seating area, I am here working on behalf of my constituents as best I can given the undemocratic circumstances.”
Zephyr is permitted to vote remotely for the rest of the legislative session, but is barred from speaking on the House floor. Zephyr’s keycard was deactivated as well, which is needed to access Capitol entrances, bathrooms, and workspaces.
“The lawsuit alleges that recent actions undertaken by House leadership to silence Representative Zephyr are a violation of her own First Amendment rights and the rights of her 11,000 constituents to representation in their state government,” a release by the ACLU states.
The lawsuit names Republican Montana House Speaker Matt Regier and Bradley Murfitt, sergeant-at-arms for the Montana House of Representatives.
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Zephyr’s attorneys are requesting the censure be overturned and ask that the Democratic lawmaker be allowed to return to the legislature.
“Continued enforcement of the Censure by Defendants would be an unconstitutional violation of the Constituent Plaintiffs’ right to equal protection of the laws guaranteed under the Montana Constitution,” the lawsuit states.