Latest news with #censure
Bloomberg
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Even Elected Officials Have First Amendment Rights
Imagine a legislature in a deep-red state deciding that members who support abortion rights won't be allowed to cast votes on any matter. Or a legislature in a bright-blue state decreeing the same disqualification for members seen sporting MAGA gear. Seems silly, I know — maybe even undemocratic. But that's what's at stake in the kerfuffle that led to last week's unexpected order from the US Supreme Court granting a stay in a lawsuit by Maine Representative Laurel Libby, whom her colleagues censured for refusing to remove a social media post that identified a transgender high school athlete who'd won an event at the state championship. As a result of the censure, Libby was not allowed to vote or even to come onto the floor.
Wall Street Journal
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Supreme Court Backs Maine Republican Censured for Transgender-Athlete Post
The Supreme Court ordered Maine's Democratic-controlled legislature to lift the censure it imposed on a GOP lawmaker for a social-media post about a transgender student athlete. In a brief order issued Tuesday, the court granted an emergency request by Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby that her votes be counted while a lawsuit she filed over her censure is heard in a lower court.
Fox News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Supreme Court orders Maine legislature to revoke censure of Rep. Laurel Libby over trans athlete post
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Maine state legislature to revoke its censure of GOP state representative Laurel Libby on Tuesday. Libby has been censured since Feb. 15 for a social media post that identified a transgender Maine high school athlete who won a girls' pole vault competition. Democrat majority leader and Maine Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau told Libby that the censure would be revoked if she apologized for the social media post, but Libby has firmly refused. Instead, the state representative filed a lawsuit to have the censure overturned, but was ruled against by Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose, who was appointed by former President Biden in January. DuBose presided over the case after every district judge in Maine refused to take the case. Libby then filed an appeal to First Circuit Court of Appeals, but was ruled against there too. So she took her case to the Supreme Court in April. Libby had the support of the U.S. Department of Justice and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who filed an amicus brief supporting Libby in her lawsuit, and Bondi has personally spoken out in support of the embattled Republican state representative. "The Department of Justice is proud to fight for girls in Maine and stand alongside Rep. Libby, who is being attacked simply for defending girls in her home state. As our lawsuit against the state of Maine illustrates, we will always protect girls' sports and girls' spaces from radical gender ideology," Bondi told Fox News Digital. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Pam Bondi backs Maine lawmaker Laurel Libby's Supreme Court appeal after being censured for trans athlete post
EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Attorney General Pam Bondi have come out in support of Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby as she seeks to have her censure in the state legislature overturned. Libby has been censured since February after the state's Democrat majority voted to take away her voting and speaking rights for a social media post that identified a transgender high school athlete who won a girls' pole vault competition earlier that month. Libby filed a lawsuit in response and is now looking for U.S. Supreme Court intervention after a district judge and the court of appeals ruled against her. The DOJ has now filed an amicus brief supporting Libby in her lawsuit, and Bondi has personally spoken out in support of the embattled Republican state representative. "The Department of Justice is proud to fight for girls in Maine and stand alongside Rep. Libby, who is being attacked simply for defending girls in her home state. As our lawsuit against the state of Maine illustrates, we will always protect girls' sports and girls' spaces from radical gender ideology," Bondi told Fox News Digital. The amicus brief argues that Libby's censure violates the Equal Protection Clause's "one-person, one-vote" guarantee, as the state legislature withdrew her voting and speaking rights for a private act and offered to remove the censure if Libby apologizes. "Stripping District 90's voters of their house representation and vote because their chosen representative will not apologize for fulfilling this obligation is well beyond the bounds of an appropriate sanction," the document read. DOJ Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon spoke out in support of Libby as well. "The Maine House Speaker silenced Rep. Laurel Libby for refusing to apologize over her stance against male athletes in girls' sports. This isn't leadership, it's unconstitutional. The Civil Rights Division stands ready to defend the rule of law," Dhillon told Fox News Digital. Libby herself has insisted she will not apologize for the social media post and previously told Fox News Digital that no one from the trans athlete's family or high school reached out to her about the post. She has also argued the athlete was already publicized in other media. The Portland Press Herald published a recap of the event, mentioning the athlete, before Libby made her post. Libby's lawsuit names Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau and House Clerk Robert Hunt as the defendants, and they are represented by Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey. Fecteau, Hunt and Frey all defended the decision to censure Libby for the February post in their response last week. "Like other censures of Maine House members, the censure resolution required Rep. Libby to apologize for her conduct—not recant her views. Rep. Libby has steadfastly refused to comply with this modest punishment, which is designed to restore the integrity and reputation of the body," the response read. "Her refusal places her in breach of a centuries-old rule of the Maine House, Rule 401(11), that Rep. Libby previously agreed, along with all of her House colleagues, would govern House proceedings. Rule 401(11) provides that a member found by the body to be in breach of its rules may not participate in floor debates or vote on matters before the full House until they have 'made satisfaction,' i.e., here, apologized for their breach." Maine's Democrats, led by Gov. Janet Mills, have fought unyieldingly to prevent President Donald Trump from enforcing his "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" in the state. Bondi and the DOJ are currently involved in a lawsuit against the state directly over the issue, and Libby was present at the press conference where the lawsuit was announced back in April. A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is "only fair to restrict women's sports to biological women." The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women's and girls' sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with kids under age 18. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Shoot all Tories comment councillor avoids suspension
A former council leader who said "all Tories should be shot" will not be suspended, a committee has Williams made the remarks at an internal Anglesey council meeting in June 2023 before apologising and referring himself to the public services the time he said he was "angry and emotional" about poverty when he made the "crass remark".The ombudsman said the comments "brought the council into disrepute" but, on Friday, the council's standards committee said Williams would be be censured, but not suspended. During the committee's meeting, Williams admitted breaching the code of conduct, which a report also found he had failed to comply an independent councillor, was leader of the council between 2013 and was deputy leader and holder of the education and Welsh language portfolio when he made the gave up his role as deputy leader in the aftermath of making his remark, which were described at the time as "inappropriate and unacceptable" by Dylan Williams, chief executive of the committee heard there were several reasons for the decision to censure Williams, including that the misconduct only occurred once and he reported the matter added that Williams had cooperated to correct the failure and accepted that a change of behavior was necessary, as well as following the code of conduct since the incident.
