Senator Who Threw Punch Suing the State

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The legislator who threw a punch in the
state Senate said he won't quit over disciplinary action taken
against him, but he will sue. State Senator Charles Bishop of
Jasper announced his plans today.
Yesterday, during the opening of the new legislative session,
the Democrat-controlled Senate split along party lines in approving
a resolution that set out sanctions for future violence. Also, the
panel that controls Senate committee assignments took Bishop off
nearly all Senate committees.
Bishop says his suit will argue that his due process rights were
violated and that the Senate's resolution was an unconstitutional
change of the Senate's operating rules.
The Senate's deputy majority leader, Democrat Quinton Ross, says
he regrets Bishop's decision because the Senate tried to handle the
matter in a dignified manner and move on to other issues.
Bishop hit state Senator Lowell Barron on June 7, which was the
final day of the 2007 legislative session.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)