State AG Defending Accused Lawmaker David Byrd in First Amendment Suit

The Tennessee attorney general is now defending a state representative accused of violating students’ free speech rights when they were told to wear shirts advertising his re-election campaign on a field trip to the state Capitol.

An anonymous student sued Waynesboro Republican Rep. David Byrd in November, alleging that Wayne County school officials told students to wear Byrd campaign shirts on the October trip to Nashville. Byrd’s nephew, Ryan Franks, is the principal at Wayne County High School, and three women earlier this year said Byrd had sexual relationships with them when he was their basketball coach at the same school. Byrd never denied the accusations, and despite calls from some Republican leaders for his resignation, he easily won re-election in November.

Earlier this month, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Janssen filed notice with the court that he would be representing Byrd in the case, and earlier this week he asked for permission to file a response to the allegations by the end of January.

“The issue in the case concerns whether the plaintiff student’s First Amendment freedom of speech rights were violated,” AG’s office spokesperson Samantha Fisher tells the Scene, while also pointing to publicly available court filings. “We do not have a comment beyond that.”

Read more, including the Tennessee Democratic Party response:
https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pith-in-the-wind/article/21038892/state-ag-defending-accused-lawmaker-david-byrd-in-first-amendment-suit