Discovery demands were made public today (see below) in a Federal Court case pitting the Ky House of Representatives against citizens who sought the impeachment of Attorney General Daniel Cameron and former State Representative Robert Goforth.
The citizens, including several who served as Breonna Taylor grand jurors, allege that their Federal Constitutional rights were violated when the Ky House dismissed all impeachment costs against Republican State Senate candidate Andrew Cooperrider, who had sought to impeach Governor Andy Beshear – but still demanded full payment from them.
“Speaking out against powerful officials shouldn’t come with a life-changing financial penalty, but that’s exactly what happened here,” says Anna Whites, who represents the citizens in Federal Court. “Letting your own side’s candidate pay nothing, while squeezing lower income working folks, is plain wrong.”
The House is expected to plead “absolute immunity” which protects legislative acts. But the citizens are questioning whether the release of the Republican candidate was a legislative act at all.
“It looks like a partisan favor at the expense of the Breonna Taylor Grand Jurors, who have already given so much,” Whites stated. “Attorney General Cameron told the impeachment committee to ‘deter’ the Grand Jurors who challenged him. This financial threat carries out that order, but we don’t think it’s legal. Now we’ll see if the Federal court agrees.”
Responses to the questions, including who specifically authorized the release of the Republican candidate, are due in less than a month, according to Whites.
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