Remember Jussie Smollett? It’s only been 9 short months since everyone was in an uproar over the hate crime (allegedly) perpetrated against him on a cold Chicago sidewalk in the wee hours of the morning. As the story regarding the incident quickly morphed into questions regarding what actually happened in the reported attack (READ: here and here), the focus of the investigation shifted to Smollett himself.

As detailed last month by RedState’s Brad Slager, the City of Chicago has been seeking reimbursement from Smollett for the roughly $130,000 expended in police overtime and attendant costs incurred while investigating Smollett’s claims. Smollett’s team moved to dismiss that lawsuit, filed in April.

Yesterday, a federal judge denied Smollett’s Motion to Dismiss, paving the way for the suit to proceed. Per CNN,

Tuesday, US District Judge Virginia Kendall denied Smollett’s request to dismiss the lawsuit, allowing the case to proceed to the discovery phase. William J. Quinlan, an attorney representing Smollett, said Tuesday the court’s decision was not surprising and that his client expects to be “vindicated” once he shares his side of the story.

Mr. Quinlan understandably is being a staunch advocate for his client. I, on the other hand, remain highly skeptical that Jussie will be “vindicated” (not sure why that’s in sneer quotes in the CNN piece – do you suppose they have their doubts, too?) any time in the near future.

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