In a motion filed Monday, Montgomery attorney Julian McPhillips withdrew his petition for further relief, as well as his motion to alter, amend or vacate, in Selma City Treasurer Ronita Wade’s state case against Selma Mayor Darrio Melton.

Further, McPhillips’ filing notes that Melton has appealed the July 16 ruling from Dallas County Circuit Court Judge Don McMillan, which found that Wade must be restored to her position and that the Selma City Council, not the mayor, alone has the authority to remove her from her position, to the Alabama Supreme Court.

Both motions were granted within the day, but McPhillips asserts that the withdrawal is not indicative of an end to the pursuit for back pay, damages and more – last month, McPhillips filed a federal suit alleging that Wade’s First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and political association had been violated by Melton and the City of Selma.

“The federal case subsumes and covers the relief we were seeking in the state case,” McPhillips said. “We haven’t withdrawn the state case. We still think the state case is important.”

That motion was filed because the state case wasn’t slated to come before the court until October, at which point the statute of limitations would have expired on such allegations, so the federal case usurps the state case.

The case being brought before the Alabama Supreme Court by Melton deals explicitly with whether or not the mayor has the power to remove a council-elected employee and stands to “maintain and hammer down [Wade’s] right not to be removed by the mayor,” according to McPhillips.

“And that right has been upheld time and again and we haven’t withdrawn that at all,” McPhillips said.

Currently, there is no date set for when the highest court in the state with take up the case – so far, McPhillips hasn’t seen the defendant’s brief nor been asked to submit his own, but he is confident that the decisions will continue to fall in Wade’s favor.

“I have very little fear because, frankly, we cited the case book law and [Montgomery attorney] Bobby Segall was on our side representing the city council,” McPhillips said. “So, there were three parties and two of the three parties are on our side.”