Rep. Hardaway defies anti-selfie law while voting; pushes repeal bill

State Rep. G.A. Hardaway made a picture of himself casting an early vote on Thursday, then announced the next day that he and other Memphis lawmakers are filing a bill to repeal the current state law that prohibits such things, reports the Memphis Daily News.

“It was a ridiculous law when we passed it,” Hardaway said later. “If we’re talking about stepping on Constitutional rights, if we are talking about getting in the way of Americans expressing themselves, then it is a law that I don’t plan to honor. We’ll take it as far as we need to take it.”

The three legislators plan to file legislation in the 2017 session of the Tennessee legislature to repeal the state law.

In the interim, Hardaway said it will be up to the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office to decide if they want to pursue a case against him.

Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich said earlier that her office would not be investigating nor pursue a case against entertainer Justin Timberlake, who earlier in the early voting period posted an Instagram selfie of himself at the New Bethel Church early voting location in Germantown.

Weirich said then that her office didn’t have the resources nor the desire to pursue prosecution of Timberlake.

“Our DAs either agree with us or they consider the offense to be so trivial that it won’t be prosecuted,” Hardaway said. “Either way it shouldn’t be on the books. It’s a useless law. It’s nothing but a nuisance.”