Maine’s House of Representatives must temporarily allow Representative Laurel Libby to vote again, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a preliminary injunction issued Tuesday.
The 7-2 decision comes almost three months after a slim majority of Maine representatives barred Libby from voting or speaking on legislation — unless she publicly apologized for criticizing boys’ participation in girls’ sports.
“This is a victory not just for my constituents, but for the Constitution itself,” Libby wrote of the ruling on X, continuing:
The Supreme Court’s brief ruling contains no information from the majority. Justice Sotomayor wrote she would not grant Libby an injunction, but did not explain why. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson authored a five-page dissent criticizing the court for offering emergency relief in cases that aren’t true emergencies.
Libby filed an emergency petition with SCOTUS on April 28 after a whirlwind legal battle that began with a simple Facebook post:
Less than ten days after the post went live, Libby’s colleagues voted to censure her for violating Maine’s Legislative Code of Ethics “in an effort to advance her political agenda.”
The resolution, which passed 75-70 in a party line vote, claimed the mother of five had endangered the male athlete’s safety by “[naming him] and [using] photos of [him] in a post without [his] consent.” This despite the fact the boy competed publicly. His podium photo was featured in media and on social media accounts across the nation.
The resolution suspended Libby’s right to vote and speak on legislation unless she publicly apologized for her conduct.
The punishment illegally deprived the representative’s more than 9,000 constituents of representation. The Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal pointedly noted:
The House put a steep price on Libby’s participation — if she wanted to vote again, she would have to publicly betray the women and girls she was defending.
“[The mandated apology] would be an apology for speaking up on behalf of Maine women and girls,” she told IWF. “And the message I’ve heard loudly and clearly since all of this has occurred is that these girls have felt very betrayed, and alone and unsure.”
She continued:
Not to mention she would reportedly have to run her mea culpa past Maine Speaker Ryan Fecteau, who supported her censure.
“At a certain point, I just had enough and told him the meeting was over, and he would go down as the speaker who silenced a woman for speaking up for girls,” Libby remembered for IWF.
Libby’s plight received sympathetic media attention, even among national, legacy outlets like the Journal and The Boston Globe, which wrote:
Though Libby experienced favor in the press, two federal courts initially denied her a preliminary injunction restoring her right to vote.
On April 18, the U.S. District Court for Rhode Island called the censure “an internal Maine House affair,” ruling Libby’s situation was “not of such extraordinary character” as to warrant federal action.
Libby’s subsequent appeal failed on April 25 in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Daily Citizen applauds Representative Libby for hanging tough and defending her right to speak biological truth and advocate for women and girls.
We are similarly grateful to the Supreme Court for upholding legislators’ right to free speech, without which representatives like Libby cannot confront injustices like boys participation in girls sports.
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