A lawyer for Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage has urged a federal appeals court to toss a Democrat's lawsuit accusing him of blackmail.
Attorney Patrick Strawbridge told the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday that the governor is immune from the legal challenge brought by Former House Speaker Eves.
Eves says the governor overstepped his authority when he threatened to withhold state funding to force a charter school operator to rescind a job offer to Eves.
Eves' attorney, David Webbert, told the court that no "reasonable" official could think that the job would be subject to a "political loyalty requirement."
Eves said after the hearing that the court must set a precedent to prevent something like this from happening again. Eves is also running for Maine governor.
