MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Now that the voters have decided to return Ophelia Ford to the state Senate, the Memphis Democrat is deciding if she will press on with a federal lawsuit filed after senators removed her from office last year, her lawyer said Monday.
A trial on the lawsuit filed by Ford and several voters from her Memphis district has been delayed. Lawyers from both sides are scheduled to meet Dec. 18 with Judge Bernice Donald to discuss the lawsuit.
Ford was elected Nov. 7 to the District 29 Senate seat she briefly occupied after a midterm election last year. The Republican-majority Senate ousted her amid complaints of voting irregularities during the special election for the seat formerly held by her brother, longtime state Sen. John Ford, who is under federal indictment in an unrelated matter.
David Cocke, Ophelia Ford's lead attorney, said the recent election ends the political dispute over the senator-elect's representation of District 29. But legal questions over the Senate's handling of her ouster remain, Cocke said.
Ford contends the Senate failed to follow instruction's from Donald in overturning results of the special election. Ford was not accused of wrongdoing, and the dispute has no effect on her more- recent election.
Ford won the special election with 13 votes, but a Senate committee found that ballots were cast by ineligible voters, including felons and people who did not live in District 29.
Donald warned Senators they could not throw out disputed votes without following established, statewide rules for challenging the eligibility of voters.
Cocke said Ford and the voters filing the suit with her must decide if the legal questions over the Senate's actions warrant going to trial.
"It's really to establish a legal principle," Cocke said. "But whether we do that or not we're going to have to sit down and analyze that."
