15 state attorneys general condemn Rep. Libby's censure as 'attack on Legislature' in letter

Yahoo

09-05-2025

May 9—Fifteen Republican attorneys general filed a friend of the court brief in support of Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, charging that her censure in the Maine Legislature was politically motivated and amounts to viewpoint discrimination.
The group, led by West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey, called in a Friday filing for the U.S. Supreme Court to grant Libby an injunction restoring her ability to vote and speak on the State House floor. They charge that Libby's censure is an "attack" on the Legislature's ability to function and represent Mainers.
"Perhaps a little too often, applicants come to this Court warning that some decision being challenged is poised to undermine (or even end) our republican form of government," the group wrote. "This time, though, the shoe fits."
Maine House Democrats voted to censure Libby in February over her Facebook post that featured the first name and photos of a transgender high school athlete. Libby filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court late last month, asking that her speaking rights be restored while a federal court in Maine considers a lawsuit she filed against House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, which argues that the censure violates her — and her constituents' — First Amendment Right to free speech.
Lower courts have already ruled against Libby's request, citing Fecteau's right to legislative immunity — the legal doctrine that prevents lawmakers from being sued for their legislative acts.
But the attorneys general argue in their filing that censuring Libby does not qualify as a legislative act, and it is therefore not subject to immunity.
"Even if one could say this suspension was a legislative act, it is of such extraordinary character that it cannot be protected," the group argues. "Representative Libby's suspension disenfranchises all of District 90's voters. And it does so as retribution for the very sort of speech that a legislator must offer — speech on one of the important issues of the day."
They add that the issue of whether transgender athletes should be allowed to compete in girls and women's sports is the subject of active debate across the country, and they note that Libby's comments were made outside the Legislature.
McCuskey was joined by 14 other Republican attorneys general, including those from Florida, Iowa and Louisiana.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has repeatedly stated that it was Libby's conduct, not her views, that earned her the censure, including in a court brief filed Thursday.
"Like other censures of Maine House members, the censure resolution required Rep. Libby to apologize for her conduct — not recant her views," Frey wrote.
Libby, who has refused to apologize, said in a response to Frey filed Friday that critics demanding she do so are exacerbating the harm against her.
"The Speaker cannot insist on an apology to his satisfaction," Libby wrote, "any more than Speaker Johnson could insist on congressmembers' declaring 'Trump is Making America Great Again' as a condition of voting."
She further charges that legislative immunity does not apply to her censure vote, and claims that Frey's "version of legislative immunity is limitless," and could, for example, be used to ban legislators who did not attend a certain university from voting.
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