An attorney representing former Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) commissioner Kent Davis asked a federal judge on Tuesday to allow a lawsuit against Governor Kay Ivey to continue.
Davis filed the lawsuit in June in response to his termination by Ivey last year. Davis filed the federal lawsuit in the Middle District of Alabama. The lawsuit, in part, states that Ivey's actions surrounding the termination of Davis were unconstitutional, constituted retaliation for his ethics complaint against a member of Ivey's cabinet, and were defamatory.
Attorneys for Ivey asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed in August, saying Davis "repeatedly undermined State functions."
Kenneth Mendelsohn, Davis' attorney, said in a filing on Tuesday that "Ivey's termination of Davis violated his Constitutional and statutory rights. Ivey's claim that she has the 'supreme executive power' to disregard Davis's rights cannot be condoned."
"The Office of Governor does not come with a crown. Yet the focus of Ivey's treatment of Davis and her Motion to Dismiss are based on her idea that she has the "supreme executive power" to decide what she thinks is best regardless of what the U. S. Constitution or state laws require. As anyone who passed sixth-grade civics knows, there are 3 separate branches of government, and Ivey's role as Governor was to execute the laws, not disregard them," Mendelsohn said. "So too, Ivey is not the Queen of Alabama. She is an elected official charged with the responsibility to uphold the laws, not violate them."
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