Lawyer Fights Contempt Charge for Button

An attorney in Youngstown, West Virginia sentenced to five days in jail for refusing to remove a Black Lives Matter button has appealed the charge. Attorney Andrea Burton, who herself is black, was hit with a contempt of court charge by Judge Robert Milich in municipal court on Friday. While in court for a case, Burton had refused to remove the button during a conversation with the judge in chambers, local media reported. She was handcuffed and taken by a bailiff to the county jail. After Judge Milich refused to stay the sentence at the request of Burton's lawyers, an appeals court agreed to stay the sentence until the appeal could be heard. Despite igniting controversy with his ruling, Judge Milich has defended his actions and said he was only trying to obey a 1997 ruling by the Supreme Court banning political buttons in the courtroom.