The Tennessee Attorney General is asking a Nashville judge to reconsider blocking a new statehouse rule. State Republicans in the House voted to ban demonstrators from holding signs inside the gallery at the start of this week’s special legislative session.
An ACLU lawsuit says that change violates the First Amendment rights of Tennesseans like Allison Polidor, who was removed from a subcommittee hearing on Tuesday for holding a sign that protests Tennessee’s gun laws.
The ACLU filed the suit on her behalf the following morning, seeking to temporarily block the rule while the case goes through the courts. A Nashville judge granted that request a little more than an hour later and set the case’s first hearing for Sept. 5, which is well after the special session is expected to wrap.
The latest development, on Thursday afternoon, is that Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a motion to dissolve the judge’s order, calling it “rushed” and accusing the court of abusing its power. Skrmetti asked that Chancellor Anne C. Martin stay the injunction and set a hearing by Friday at 4 p.m.
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