Supreme Court returns Maine lawmaker's right to vote following censure for post about transgender athlete
The U.S. Supreme Court granted the request of a Maine lawmaker to continue voting and speaking in the state legislature as she appeals her censure.
Maine Republican Rep. Laurel Libby refused to apologize for a social media post that included two photos of a transgender high school student who won the Class B girls' state championship in pole vaulting.
Maine Democratic lawmakers voted in February to censure Libby, revoking her ability to vote or speak on the state House floor until she accepts 'full responsibility for the incident and publicly apologize(s) to the House and to the people of the State of Maine.'
After lower courts refused to return Libby's ability to speak or vote, Libby and six of her constituents appealed directly to the Supreme Court, asking them to issue an emergency injunction.
'The verbal censure (unwise as it may be) is not what Applicants challenge here. It's what happened next. The Speaker declared Libby was barred from speaking or voting until she recants her view. This means her thousands of constituents in Maine House District 90 are now without a voice or vote for every bill coming to the House floor for the rest of her elected term, which runs through 2026,' her attorneys wrote in the emergency application.
In a brief order released Tuesday, the court granted her injunction without including an explanation. The injunction will stay in effect while she appeals the decision to strip her of voting and speaking rights.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a five-page dissent to the order, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she also would have denied Libby's request.
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