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Circuit Court of Appeals last year ruled that a requirement for Oregon Sen. It’s not uncommon for legislators wading into heated issues like abortion or gun rights to be scolded about “blood on your hands” by protesters or even fellow representatives.Īttorneys for Zephyr noted previous legal disputes in which courts sided with politicians who made controversial comments, including a case that involved a conservative Oregon lawmaker’s veiled threats against the state police. In retaliating against Zephyr, Montana Republicans accused her of crossing a line that is faint at best in political debate. Her situation echoed the ouster this year of two Tennessee lawmakers from that state’s legislature for a protest over gun policy. Lawmakers were scheduled to reconvene Tuesday.

The House adjourned in the evening without a ruling being made in the lawsuit.

The full House - minus Zephyr - met in the afternoon, with Zephyr casting votes from a statehouse snack bar because several people occupied the bench. Zephyr spoke briefly during a House Judiciary Committee meeting Monday morning. Her key card to access Capitol entrances, bathrooms and party workspaces was deactivated, according to the lawsuit. She spent the first day of her exile last week battling to use a bench in a statehouse hallway. Republicans moved to sideline Zephyr further by canceling some meetings of the two committees on which she serves and moving the bills they were to hear to other committees, Democrats said. Days later, she raised her microphone in defiance as demonstrators in the House gallery angrily demanded she be allowed to speak, leading to seven arrests and Zephyr’s banishment from the House floor. GOP leaders, under pressure from hard-line conservatives, silenced Zephyr from participating in floor debates and demanded she apologize two weeks ago, after she said those who supported a ban on gender-affirming care for youths would have blood on their hands. Republicans achieved a supermajority in Montana during the 2022 election and now control two-thirds of the state House and Senate, in addition to the governor’s office. But just because you can do it does not make it the right choice,” she said.Ībbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “You absolutely can do this, by rule, by the Constitution. “Without Zephyr having her full rights and privileges restored, her 11,000 constituents are voiceless.”ĭemocratic Minority Leader Kim Abbott appeared to concede that the removal of Zephyr was within the House’s authority when she spoke on the House floor as the matter was considered last week.

“Every minute matters,” said Alex Rate, legal director of the Montana ACLU and one of Zephyr’s attorneys. Residents of the Missoula area said in declarations filed as part of the lawsuit that they wanted Zephyr heard in the Legislature.Īnna Wong, who lives in Missoula County with her transgender child, supported Zephyr in the 2022 election with the expectation the lawmaker would “speak out against the onslaught of bills targeting transgender youth.” Murfitt said he would not comment on the lawsuit, and Regier did not return telephone messages and an email seeking comment. She added that a court decision blocking the Legislature’s censure of Zephyr would violate the separation of powers between branches of government. “This is performance litigation – political activism masquerading as a lawsuit,” said Emily Flower, Knudsen’s press secretary. The legal challenge against House Speaker Matt Regier and Sergeant-at-Arms Brad Murfitt comes with just days left in the Legislature’s biennial session.Ī spokesperson for Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen - a Republican whose office will defend the case - said the lawsuit was frivolous.

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