Tennessee State Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville), who was disciplined after standing on her desk and protesting during the Tennessee General Assembly’s May redistricting vote, announced Monday that she filed a federal lawsuit challenging the punishment imposed against her by Senate leadership.
During the May 7 redistricting vote, Oliver stood on her desk in the Senate chamber while shouting objections to the congressional map and displaying a banner criticizing the proposal as “Jim Crow 2.0.” Video also showed Oliver attempting to retrieve the banner from a Senate sergeant at arms after it was confiscated.
In a May 27 letter, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) told Oliver that her actions violated Senate rules regarding order and decorum. McNally said Oliver would receive limited per diem eligibility, would not receive reimbursement for legislative conferences outside Tennessee, and would be reassigned from the Government Operations Committee to the State and Local Government Committee.
Announcing the lawsuit on social media Monday, Oliver said the lawsuit alleges Tennessee Senate leadership illegally retaliated against her after she spoke out against the congressional map approved during the special legislative session, which split Memphis into three congressional districts intended to give Republicans a 9-0 majority.
“When I stood on my Senate desk, I did it because the legislature swiftly moved to silence the voices of Black Tennesseans,” Oliver said in a statement. “An injustice of that magnitude demanded an equally urgent response.”
The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Campaign Legal Center Action, and Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison, PLLC filed the lawsuit.
“The retaliation included refusing to count my vote, imposing financial penalties that hinder my ability to serve my constituents, and removing me from committee assignments,” Oliver said. “This is a violation of my First Amendment rights and their Fourteenth Amendment rights.”
Oliver’s lawsuit comes one day after a federal panel dismissed a separate lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s congressional map. Independent congressional candidate Pamela Moses brought that case, while two other lawsuits challenging the map remain active.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Senator Charlane Oliver” by Senator Charlane Oliver.
