A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against N.H. Speaker of the House William O’Brien. The suit, filed by former state senators Maggie Hassan and Bette Lasky, stemmed from an incident in late March when O’Brien temporarily closed the House gallery in Concord to remove noisy protesters from a debate on the state budget.

Hassan and Lasky filed the suit after being denied entry to the House gallery on March 31.

Thousands of people were at the State House to protest proposed budget cuts and a provision that would have reduced the bargaining rights of unions. The suit would have barred O’Brien from closing the gallery to the public in the future.

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Richard McNamara called the suit an “exercise in futility,” saying it was based on hypothetical future situations.

O’Brien and House majority leader D.J. Bettencourt released statements criticizing Hassan and Lasky for filing a suit they viewed as frivolous and wasteful. Republican State Committee chair Wayne MacDonald issued a similar statement.

“This lawsuit was nothing more than a headline-grabbing political stunt on the backs of the hardworking New Hampshire citizens who have loudly expressed a desire for fiscal responsibility and restraint,” MacDonald said.

Hassan released her own statement, noting that the court reaffirmed the public’s right to have full access to legislative proceedings and only dismissed the lawsuit because O’Brien reopened the House gallery before the court could act.

“The Speaker’s prior characterization of public access to the legislative process as ‘frivolous’ is troubling, as public access to and participation in our state government has been one of the foundations of our democracy,” Hassan said.