(Bloomberg) An attorney alleges the Tennessee Supreme Court’s board of professional responsibility unlawfully fired him for posting tweets that an opposing party said displayed anti-Muslim bias, arguing his social media posts were constitutionally protected political speech similar to that of former president Donald Trump.
The board of professional responsibility regulates licensed Tennessee attorneys. Jerry Morgan handled appeals to the state supreme court regarding attorney discipline, according to his complaint filed Monday at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Attorney Brian Manookian, who was undergoing disciplinary proceedings, filed a motion to disqualify Morgan, claiming he was an anti-Muslim bigot. Manookian cited multiple tweets Morgan had posted that, among other things, praised then-candidate Trump for “talking about the #1 issue of our time — stopping Muslims” and disparaged Muslims and Democrats.
