Press Release:
Contact: Shayne Snavely, 804 380 0009, [email protected]
February 1, 2021
RICHMOND Today, Attorney Tim Anderson of Anderson and Associates in Virginia Beach, will file a federal lawsuit on behalf of plaintiff Senator Amanda Chase, candidate for Governor in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia, against the Senate of Virginia for a civil rights violation, related to the public censure issued against her as a Virginia State Senator for their intentional, knowingly and deliberate violations offending the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution as well as a total disregard to follow its own due process rules in issuing the censure.
The Plaintiff has received a public censure from the Virginia Senate for speech and expression that is protected under the United States Constitution, namely free speech and political expression. The issuance of a censure, issued by the Virginia Senate, was unlawful and contrary to the Plaintiff’s Constitutional rights. This Court can provide redress the harm to the Plaintiff by declaring rights of the parties, issuing injunctive relief regarding the censure and expungement of the censure to the Plaintiff. In all reported cases of censures of state elected officials in the nation, none have been based solely on the speech of an elected official.
This censure of the Plaintiff violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment as the Plaintiff is being singled out and selectively penalized for taking unpopular political positions that the majority of the members of the Virginia Senate disagree with. Deliberate and intentional violation of established rules and protocols regarding public censure violates the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Senator Chase is seeking the issuance of a temporary and permanent injunction against the Defendant Susan Clarke Schaar from allowing the publication of SR91 in the official journal of the Virginia Senate pending the outcome of this case; issue a declaratory judgment that the Censure of Plaintiff violated Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights under the United States Constitution; issue a declaratory judgment that the Plaintiff did not engage in Disorderly Behavior pursuant to Article Four Section 7 of the Virginia Constitution; order the Defendant, the Honorable Susan Clarke Schaar to expunge the Substitute Censure and the Original Censure from the Public record and the official journal of the Senate; order the Defendant The Honorable Susan Clarke Schaar to reinstate the Plaintiff’s seniority rank existing prior to the issuance of SR91; provide a speedy hearing to determine the rights of the Plaintiff pursuant to FRCP 57; and grant an award of attorney fees and costs, as well as any other such relief as this Court may deem appropriate.
