The lawyer was sentenced to five days in prison as she refused to remove her pin after being asked several times by the judge.
An Ohio lawyer who was given a 5-day jail term because of a Black Lives Matter pin she wore to court has lodged a federal lawsuit.
According to the Youngstown Vindicator, Andrea Burton sued Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Robert Milich on Thursday.
Last month, the Youngstown lawyer was given a 5-day prison sentence by judge Milich for contempt of court after she refused to remove a Black Lives Matter pin she was wearing.
The judge asked Burton several times to remove the pin citing a US Supreme Court case law that bans political pins from courts.
The judge even privately consulted with the lawyer in his chambers several reports say. When Milich and Burton returned to open court, the judge again ordered her to remove the pin but the lawyer still refused.
Burton was taken into custody, but the judge stayed the sentence pending an appeal.
According to Yahoo, Milich said: “A judge doesn’t support either side. A judge is objective and tries to make sure everyone has an opportunity to have a fair hearing, and it was a situation where it was just in violation of the law.”
Burton, however, alleges her First Amendment rights of free speech and 14th Amendment rights of due process and equal protection under the law were violated.
In an interview with local station WFMJ, Burton said then of the issue: “To remain neutral becomes an accomplice to oppression.”
“It’s an act of civil disobedience, I understand that. I’m not anti-police, I work with law enforcement and I hold them in the highest regard, and just to say for the record I do believe all lives matter. But at this point they don’t all matter equally, and that’s the problem in the justice system,” she added.
Also named in the lawsuit are Judge Elizabeth Kobly and the city of Youngstown.
