A former state assistant attorney
general who lost his law license after he targeted a gay student at
the University of Michigan is appealing the decision.
Andrew Shirvell, an alum of UofM,
protested the 2010 election of Chris Armstrong as the school's first
openly gay student body president. He attacked Armstrong on the
Internet, at his home and at university events. At
his now private blog Chris
Armstrong Watch, he accused the student of preying on
impressionable freshman and of being “Satan's representative on the
student assembly,” and labeled Armstrong a Nazi, a racist, a liar
and an elitist.
His actions led to his firing as state
assistant attorney general. Last year, the Michigan Attorney
Discipline Board said that Shirvell's actions were tantamount to
misconduct.
According to MLive, Shirvell on
Wednesday has a hearing for a petition for review before the board.
In a press release, he said that he expects a more favorable outcome
with President Donald Trump in office.
"Given that my case is one of the
most politically-charged to have ever come before a Hearing Panel ...
I cannot imagine a more biased panel of attorneys who sat in judgment
of me," Shirvell
said. "With Donald Trump now in the White House,
conservative Christians like me will no longer tolerate being
railroaded by the liberal elite. It is time for the Michigan Attorney
Discipline Board to overturn the Hearing Panel's biased
determinations and restore my law license."
Armstrong, who graduated in 2011, filed
a defamation suit against Shirvell. A jury handed Armstrong a $4.5
million award. A federal appeals court refused Shirvell's request
for a new trial, but reduced the jury's award to $3.5 million. The
Supreme Court denied Shirvell's appeal.
During an appearance on CNN's Anderson
Cooper 360, Shirvell defended his right to harass Armstrong.
“I'm a Christian citizen exercising
my First Amendment rights. I have no problem with the fact that
Chris is a homosexual. I have a problem with the fact that he's
advancing a radical homosexual agenda,” Shirvell said at the time.