The U.S. Supreme Court restored a Maine lawmaker’s vote on Tuesday, May 20, after she was censured for months by the state legislature. Republican state Rep. Laurel Libby lost her voting power in February when her fellow representatives voted along party lines to ban her from voting over her remarks about transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports.
Censure stemmed from social media post
The controversy that led to the censure vote was Libby’s social media post about the state’s high school pole vault championship winners.
The post stated, “Two years ago, John tied for 5th place in boy’s pole vault. Tonight, ‘Katie’ won 1st place in the girls’ Maine State Championship.”
The post included photos of the two named athletes, who are the same person.
Libby said the post was intended to raise awareness about the unfairness of transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports. Democrats in the state argued the post endangered the minor athlete involved by showing the photos.
Lawmaker refused to apologize, leading to censure
Libby was required to apologize for the post as part of the censure, which she refused. As a result, her voting power was revoked — and she sued.
A federal judge denied her initial request to restore her vote immediately while the case progressed. However, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision, effectively reinstating her voting rights.
What are people involved saying?
Libby spoke about the experience with former swimmer and activist Riley Gaines during a podcast interview.
“The night that I was censured, we had a meeting prior to the censure when I stood in front of [House Speaker Ryan Fecteau] in the chamber,” Libby recalled. “I said to him, ‘Speaker, you’re going to go down in history as a man who silenced a woman for speaking up for girls.’”
The lawsuit named Fecteau, a Democrat, who responded in a court filing.
“Like other censures of Maine House members, the censure resolution required Rep. Libby to apologize for her conduct — not recant her views,” Fecteau said. “Rep. Libby has steadfastly refused to comply with this modest punishment, which is designed to restore the integrity and reputation of the body.”
Emergency appeal reaches high court
The Supreme Court ruled on Libby’s appeal through its emergency docket. In these types of rulings, the justices’ votes are often not disclosed, and they are not required to explain their reasoning.
However, two justices — Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson — publicly stated they would have denied Libby’s request. Justice Jackson criticized the use of the emergency docket in the ruling.
“Why would any applicant who thinks the lower courts are mistaken wait for those courts’ final word on an issue if real-time error correction via our emergency docket is readily available?” Jackson wrote. “It is plainly prudent to reserve our emergency docket for applicants who demonstrate that they truly need our help now.”
Libby responds to SCOTUS ruling
Following the ruling, Libby made a post on X celebrating the decision to restore her vote.
“This is a victory not just for my constituents, but for the Constitution itself,” Libby wrote on X. “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 matter.”
Case still playing out in lower court
The legal fight isn’t over. The Supreme Court’s ruling is temporary, allowing Libby to continue voting in the state legislature while the lower court continues to oversee the case.
