Chris Armstrong's Attorney Speaks Out

Last night on CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s 360, Anderson Cooper interviewed the lawyer for Chris Armstrong, the University of Michigan student who has been continually harassed by former MI Asst. Attorney General Andrew Shirvell. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox claimed in a previous interview with Anderson Cooper that he had not fired Shirvell because he was simply exercising his 1^st Amendment rights.

However, as revealed by Chris Armstrong’s lawyer Deborah Gordon, Attorney General Mike Cox conducted an investigation and documented over 500 pages of incidences where Andrew Shirvell had acted inappropriately and misused state resources which lead Cox to fire Shirvell. Shirvell’s lawyer, Phillip Thomas, claims that Shirvell was fired because of the liberal-media’s attention to the issue.

What Shirvell misunderstands, as well as his lawyer, is that the outrage felt by most Americans has not been manufactured by the liberal media but by Shirvell’s actions. The actions taken by Shirvell, which border on the line of stalking and harassing Chris Armstrong for the simple fact that Armstrong is gay, are ridiculous. These actions revealed that Shirvell could not conduct his job as an attorney with impartiality which is what ultimately lead to shirvell’s dismissal.

What is most surprising here is that Shirvell maintains that he was fired for simply exercising his 1^st Amendment rights. This is an outrageous mischaracterization of Shirvell’s dismissal. Shirvell is not being censored; he is still able to protest, maintain his blog, and hold gatherings that aim to expand on Shirvell’s bigotry. However the actions that he took to exercise his 1^st Amendment rights (i.e. using equipment owned by the state of Michigan to maintain his blog and posting blogs during working hours) is what caused his dismissal on Monday.

I applaud Michigan’s Attorney General for the dismissal of Shirvell. It is a pity however that it has taken this long to do so. 

Here is the interview with Chris Armstrong's attorney Deborah Gordon from CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.