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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s attorney general is asking for a lawsuit against him by an Indianapolis journalist to be dismissed.

Todd Rokita filed a motion for dismissal this morning. He’s being sued in federal court by the ACLU on behalf of Abdul-Hakim Shabazz who runs Indy Politics, which is an independent website dedicated to reporting stories about local and statewide politics.

Shabazz says he has turned away from a press conference with Rokita last October because Rokita’s staff said he was “not a real journalist”, despite Shabazz having the proper media credential to attend.

Rokita’s office says fighting the lawsuit would be a waste of taxpayer money and says the First Amendment does not protect the right to hear from a public official in person.

“In fact, no federal court has ever ordered a public official to take and answer questions from a particular journalist or news commentator, or held that the First Amendment is implicated by a public official not taking questions from a particular journalist,” Rokita’s brief asking for dismissal said.

Rokita’s office said the ACLU is “trying to make a federal case over a bruised ego,”

“Obviously, we disagree with the Attorney General’s assessment of our litigation and we look forward to making our case in federal court,” Shabazz said in response to the attorney general’s request.

Rokita has also banned Shabazz from all future news conferences of his.