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The Maine legislature silenced State Representative Laurel Libby over a social media post involving a high school track meet and a transgender boy. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Libby’s favor yesterday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Maine legislature to count the votes of a GOP lawmaker who was censured after she identified a transgender teen athlete in a viral social-media post.
The court majority sided with Rep. Laurel Libby, who filed an emergency appeal to restore her ability to vote while her lawsuit over the punishment plays out. There were two noted dissents, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In February, State Representative Laurel Libby called out the issue of transgender boys competing on girls teams in high school. She specifically pointed out the fact that a biological boy, who came in FIFTH when competing as a boy, handily won in the girls division.
https://twitter.com/TheFIREorg/status/1899830935752736954
Yes indeed. The Democrats in the Maine Legislator were furious. They demanded she retract her post. She unequivocally refused.
Our girls deserve so much better than the "leadership" that @GovJanetMills and the Maine Democrat Majority are currently offering.
— Rep. Laurel Libby (@laurel_libby) February 26, 2025
I will not be bullied into rejecting basic common sense: biological males have *no place* in girls' sports. Period.
So she was censured. Except the Maine legislature went further than just a mere censure. They totally cut off her ability to cast votes or even SPEAK on the floor of the legislature. In short, they silenced her. And silenced her 9,000 constituents.
Libby wasn’t backing down. She filed lawsuits to regain her voice on behalf of her constituents, and a lawsuit about the censure itself. Astoundingly, a federal court ruled against her free speech rights.
Rhode Island-based U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose reportedly issued a ruling late on Friday denying Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby’s (R-Auburn) claim for declaratory and injunctive relief against the terms of the censure Maine Democrats imposed against her last month. Those terms strip Rep. Libby of the right to vote or speak on the floor of the Maine House of Representatives.
Libby’s lawsuit contested what it called violations of her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution, and specifically named Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) as the defendant.
Judge DuBose on Friday ruled that Speaker Fecteau was protected by legislative immunity, and that while the censure order was a “weighty sword to yield,” Maine Democrats adhered to legislative procedure.
She immediately appealed to SCOTUS. Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in her favor, and in favor of Freedom of Speech.
This entire case and the censure as well as silencing of a state legislator over a social media post should never have happened. But this is where the transgender craze has led us. Let’s punish girls for speaking out about boys competing with and against them. Let’s punish women for refusing to compete against men in their sport. Let’s silence anyone who speaks out on behalf of girls and women. It’s happening all over the country, and shows no signs of stopping…yet.
“Girls every day are losing their spot due to biological boys speeding out.”
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 21, 2025
A high school track star sounds off on her ‘discouraging’ loss to a biological male, delivering a blunt message to her state’s sports governing body on @AmericaRpts. pic.twitter.com/lEGgmTTrrw
Unbelievably, the attorney for the Maine legislature and specifically for House Speaker Ryan Fecteau argued that this silencing was merely a “modest punishment.”
“Rep. Libby has steadfastly refused to comply with this modest punishment, which is designed to restore the integrity and reputation of the body,” Frey’s office wrote to the high court. “Her refusal places her in breach of a centuries-old rule of the Maine House, Rule 401(11), that Rep. Libby previously agreed, along with all of her House colleagues, would govern House proceedings.”
Silencing speech is “modest punishment.” WOW.
Of course, one of those justices who dissented is Ketanji Brown-Jackson. As is pointed out here, she dragged her feet about getting the case in front of the court. And then had the gall to claim in her dissent that there was no injury to silencing Laurel Libby’s right to free speech.
Why did Jackson deny relief? In part, she found no injury was imminent:
Meanwhile, before us, the applicants have not asserted that there are any significant legislative votes scheduled in the upcoming weeks; that there are any upcoming votes in which Libby’s participation would impact the outcome; or that they will otherwise suffer any concrete, imminent, and significant harmwhile the lower court considers this matter.
I’m not sure this is correct. Page 1 of the application listed votes that she had already missed:
Libby and her district had no vote on the State’s $11 billion budget, had no vote on a proposed constitutional amendment, and will have no vote on hundreds more proposed laws including—most ironically—whether Maine should change its current policy of requiring girls to compete alongside transgender athletes.
But beyond the factual issues, Jackson seems to hedge–there are no votes on which Libby’s vote would “impact the outcome.” How can Jackson possibly know this? The legislature currently has (according to Wikipedia) 76 democrats, 73 republicans, 3 “others.” Does Jackson just assume a Republican member cannot affect the outcome of a vote?
The injury WAS present! It was that Laurel Libby’s ability to speak freely was silenced. It was that her constituent’s voices were silenced.
This is a victory not just for my constituents, but for the Constitution itself. The Supreme Court has affirmed what should NEVER have been in question — that no state legislature has the power to silence an elected official simply for speaking truthfully about issues that… https://t.co/bCRUv35m7F
— Rep. Laurel Libby (@laurel_libby) May 20, 2025
While this is only a temporary victory, it DOES send quite a signal. Let’s hope reason and the law truly prevails and makes this a permanent victory for Laurel Libby and for Freedom of Speech.
Feature Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore via Wikipedia, cropped and modified
Cameron says: Nature is healing but we need to get the DEI stink out of the Supreme Court.
NTSOG says: ‘Unbelievably, the attorney for the Maine legislature and specifically for House Speaker Ryan Fecteau argued that this silencing was merely a “modest punishment.” ‘
Perhaps he would prefer her to be burned at the stake as a witch? There was precedent in Salem.
[…] Musings: Fracture Day, also, The Long-Overdue Deregulation Of Regulatory Offenses Victory Girls: Laurel Libby, Maine Rep Silenced For Defending Girls, Wins At SCOTUS Watts Up With That: Kathryn Porter – The True Affordability of Net Zero, Vermont Hits Brakes […]
Wfjag says: Troubling that a US District Judge, a US Appellate Court of three federal Judges and two US Supreme Court Justices failed to read and apply the First Amendment’s freedom of expression protections. If you count noses, that’s six federal judges who voted to suppress freedom of expression because Rep. Libby, on a private platform, challenged a Woke mantra (“Men are women if they say they are!”), whereas only five federal judges voted to uphold and apply the First Amendment to the Maine Legislature.
Those “judges” also disenfranchised every one of her constituents. They left her in place, did not expel her for her “crime” – but did not allow her to perform her representative duties.
That certainly qualifies as an “affront to democracy,” doesn’t it?
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