SPOKANE, Wash. — Matthew Shea, a former Washington lawmaker, filed a claim for damages lawsuit against the City of Spokane and Spokane City Council members for more than $24 million on Oct. 25.
According to court documents, Shea claims that the City of Spokane's Resolution No. 2023-0081, which was passed following his participation in the "Let Us Worship" event in Spokane, violated his First Amendment rights.
In 2023, KREM 2 reported that Let Us Worship was a defined as prayer rally with Christian nationalism connotations. The event was led by Sean Feucht, a Christian nationalist preacher denounced by several Pacific NW faith leaders for hateful rhetoric against members of the LGBTQ+ communities.
The resolution was sponsored in 2023 by City Council members Betsy Wilkerson, Zack Zappone and Karen Stratton.
Shea claims the resolution condemns his prayer and religious beliefs, labeling them as "hateful" and "dangerous," which Shea says is a violation of his constitutional rights as well as the "Establishment Clause through its treatment of Christianity."
Shea also claims in the lawsuit that the resolution assigns him guilt of domestic terrorism without a fair trial. Shea was expelled from the Washington State Republican Caucus after an independent investigation found "ties to domestic terrorism" in 2019.
Shea's claim seeks repayment of things such as noneconomic damages of emotional distress, injury to reputation and mental anguish, among other claims.
Shea's lawsuit comes three months after former Mayor Nadine Woodward's lawsuit claiming that city council members violated her freedom of speech and interfered with the mayoral election for the same condemnation.