WASHINGTON (CN) - Maine State Representative Laurel Libby asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to restore her voting authority after legislators censured her for attacking a transgender athlete in a social media post.
Libby thrust Maine into the national debate over transgender participation in sports when she penned a Facebook post in February about high school track competition. The Republican lawmaker called out the winner of the meet as transgender, included a photo of the student athlete, who is a minor, and identified them by name.
The Maine Statehouse censured Libby and blocked her votes until she publicly apologized for the post. Two lower courts rejected Libby's attempt to skirt the punishment. Libby pushed the justices to step in.
"Absent this court's intervention, Libby's district will be without equal representation in the Maine House simply for Libby's view shared on Facebook," Libby wrote. "The Constitution does not tolerate respondents' unprecedented punishment for Libby's speech on a debated issue of exceptional importance."
After the viral post, President Donald Trump got in a public dispute with Democratic Maine Governor Janet Mills. Libby then featured in U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi's press conference announcing a lawsuit against the state.
Maine's Democrat-controlled statehouse censured Libby for endangering the student to advance her political agenda. Lawmakers noted Libby blurred the faces of other athletes to protect their privacy, but intentionally exposed the transgender student.
Commenters on Libby's post threatened the minor with violence, forcing the school to increase security.
The statehouse found that Libby violated their code of ethics and called for a public apology to the people of Maine. Under the chamber's rules, Democratic House Speaker Ryan Fecteau said Libby wouldn't be allowed to vote or speak until she resolved the issue.
Libby refused to apologize, and the House excluded her from voting and debate in the chamber, including on an equal rights amendment to the state constitution. She instead filed a lawsuit, claiming that the censure violated her First and 14th Amendment rights.
A lower court found that while denying a representative voting power was "a weighty sword to wield," the censure reflected the will of the majority. The Fourth Circuit refused to put the ruling on hold.
Libby pleaded with the Supreme Court, claiming that only the justices could correct the error.
She asked for an injunction before May 6, when the House convenes for a floor session. However, she also suggested the court could hear oral arguments on her appeal on May 15 - the same day the justices scheduled oral arguments in Trump's birthright citizenship appeal.
Source: Courthouse News Service
