Andrew Shirvell Ordered to Pay $4.5 Million to Gay Student Leader

Former Michigan prosecutor Andrew Shirvell has lost, big time, in a defamation suit brought by Chris Armstrong, the University of Michigan student on whom Shirvell developed a bizarre fixation. According to Armstrong's attorney, Shirvell "wrapped himself in the First Amendment" at trial. I guess the First Amendment suffocated him. He's left with a $4.5 million judgment against him and no job.

For previous coverage, see here.

Inflammmatory stupidity loses again.

Now that the Obamacare oral arguments are over, America can get back to asking questions rather than listening to nine middle-aged/old people ask questions.  One question on the minds of many, whatever happened to Andrew Shirvell?  We did a fair number of posts about him in the fall of 2010 but since then we have not done any. 

Inflammatory stupidity is only a privilege on one's own time.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has fired Andrew Shirvell. A discussion of the very odd blog Mr. Shirvell created is here. As Mr. Torvik noted at the time Mr. Shirvell's antics came to light, Mr. Shirvell couldn't be fired for what he wrote on his blog because that would violate the First Amendment. However, it would appear that Mr. Shirvell was writing his blog when he should have been working for the taxpayers of Michigan. Thus, Mr. Shirvell was not fired for something he said, he was fired for when he said it. As Nigel Tufnel once said, there is a fine line between clever and stupid.

Update on Andrew Shirvell

Chris Armstrong, the object of Michigan Asst. Attorney General Andrew Shirvell's fascination, has withdrawn his petition for a protective order against Shirvell.  According to Armstrong's attorney, "The petition for a personal protection order was dismissed by Chris Armstrong because he received assurance that he will no longer be contacted by Andrew Shirvell."

Inflammatory stupidity is one of the privileges of being a government employee

I'm not sure whether I can make the sparks fly in response to your post on Andrew Shirvell, the anti-gay (and anti-one-paticular-gay-guy) crusading assistant AG in Michigan.  But I will make two points in his defense:

What is it with prosecuting attorneys this week?

While this isn't as bad as Kenneth Kratz, an attorney in the Michigan Attorney General's office is engaged in some deeply weird blogging. Clearly some public officials have too much free time.

Andrew Shirvell, an assistant attorney general in Michigan, has a blog devoted to expressing his contempt of one gay person. I wrote that correctly, it is a blog dedicated to picking on one gay person. That person is University of Michigan Student Assembly president Chris Armstrong. Now, Mr. Shirvell doesn't like gay people, period. Still, the blog is really about one particular gay person. In fact, Mr. Shirvell has written 27 posts about one person. Who has the energy for that? Mr. Kratz or Ieshuh Griifin are going to have to make a lot more news before we come close to topping that figure.

Mr. Shirvell accuses this college student of being a “Nazi-like” recruiter to the “cult of homosexuality.” The analogy sort of breaks down when you consider that Nazi’s did not like homosexuals very much. Maybe less blogging about one gay student and more history study is in order. It certainly couldn't hurt.

The Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct seem to discourage this sort of thing. Rule 6.5(a) says:

A lawyer shall treat with courtesy and respect all persons involved in the legal process. A lawyer shall take particular care to avoid treating such a person discourteously or disrespectfully because of the person’s race, gender, or other protected personal characteristic.

I suppose Mr. Shirvell has two explanations for why he is not violating the rule. One is that sexual orientation is not a “protected personal characteristic.” However, Michigan does prohibit some forms of sexual orientation discrimination. The other may be that Mr. Armstrong is not, as of yet, “involved in the legal process”. But, as the comment to Rule 6.5 notes:

A lawyer must take particular care to avoid words or actions that appear to be improperly based upon a person’s race, gender, or other protected personal characteristic. Legal institutions, and those who serve them, should take leadership roles in assuring equal treatment for all.

It’s probably fair to say that Mr. Shirvell is falling short of that ideal. His blog is certainly based on one protected personal characteristic. I suspect that homosexuals who have been victims of crimes would not want Mr. Shirvell involved in their case.

So what to make of Mr. Shirvell’s hobby? Given that no one likes a bully, it seems like Mr. Shirvell should get a new pastime. Especially since his boss does not like it. Of course, now that his boss is on the record as not liking it, Mr. Shirvell will have a First Amendment retaliation claim if he gets fired or disciplined in the near future. In any event, if he directed some of the energy he devotes to Mr. Armstrong towards model trains, I bet Mr. Shirvell could make something like this. At the very least, it would keep him off the computer.