April 30 (UPI) — A Maine Republican state legislator is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow her to vote again after her colleagues censured her for comments against transgender athletes.
State Rep. Laurel Libby is seeking an emergency injunction to block Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau’s declaration that Libby cannot speak on the floor or vote until she recants her view. Fecteau is a Democrat.
She wants a decision before the House next convenes on May 6.
Her request, which was filed Monday, first will go to Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, because she hears cases from the 1st Circuit. The matter can be referred to the full nine justices.
Libby is not disputing the censure, which was backed by the Democratic-led House, which voted 75-70 along party lines in March. She wants her voting rights restored in the House.
“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,” Libby’s Consovoy McCarthy law firm wrote in the 49-page application to the high court obtained by CNN. “They are disenfranchised.”
Also, Libby and several constituents are suing Fecteau and the state House clerk for violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, regarding equal state legislative representation.
“For over 60 days, my constituents have had no say in actions taken by their government, actions that directly impact their lives,” Libby said in a news release. “Every vote taken on the floor of the legislature is a vote my constituents cannot get back. The good people of our district have been silenced and disenfranchised.”
Libby’s request for an injunction was denied Friday by District Judge Melissa DuBois and Monday by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pending appeal.
“Respondents here invoke immunity so they can continue to silence debate, disenfranchise a lawfully elected member of the House, and deny equal representation to her constituents,” her attorneys wrote.
Three other legislators have been censured in Maine’s 200-year history with none having votes banned.
In her Facebook post on Feb. 17, Libby wrote: “I am a believer of equality, but we can’t always have everything we want in life. Trans women competing against biological women may just be one of those things.”
She included the name and photo of the transgender girl, who competed as a boy the year prior, and won the championship in girls’ pole vault.
On Feb. 5, President Donald Trump signed an executive order called Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports..
At a meeting of governors at the White House on Feb. 21, Trump singled out Maine Gov. Janet Mills for not conforming to the executive order.
“We’re going to follow the law, sir. We’ll see you in court,” Mills said to the president, referencing the Maine Human Rights Act. This law, amended four years prior, includes gender identity as a protected class.
This month, U.S. Department of Agriculture has paused funds for certain programs and the U.S. Department of Justice has sued, alleging Title IX violations over Trump’s order on trans athletesvin women’s sports.
Trans people appear to have no advantage in sports, according to an October 2023 review of 2017 research published in the journal Sports Medicine.