Mural painter Judy Taylor
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The plaintiffs in an unsuccessful lawsuit have appealed a federal judge's ruling that Maine Gov. Paul LePage was within his rights when he had a mural depicting the state's labor history removed from a state office building.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said Tuesday they've filed an appeal in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last week.
The appeal argues that Judge John Woodcock erred in his March decision concluding that the labor mural was so-called "government speech" rather than the speech of the artist who created it.
LePage created an uproar last year when he ordered the 11-panel, 7-foot-tall mural removed from a Labor Department waiting room because he considered it biased in favor of organized labor over business interests.
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