A federal judge heard arguments Friday in a lawsuit filed by a Republican state lawmaker who was censured by her colleagues in the Maine House.
Rep. Laurel Libby of Auburn has been barred from speaking or voting on the House floor since she was formally reprimanded by the House last month. Democrats who control the House accused Libby of endangering the welfare of a child by posting pictures and the name of a transgender athlete on Facebook as a way to criticize the state's policy.
But attorney Patrick Strawbridge argued during Friday's hearing that House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, is violating the First and Fourteenth amendments by denying Libby the ability to cast votes or speak on the House floor.
"There are 9,000 Maine residents who are currently without effective representation . . . they have no voice and they have no vote," Strawbridge told U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose during a video conference hearing.
As a result, Strawbridge said, those Auburn-area are potentially "stuck in limbo" for the rest of the legislative session because lawmakers are silencing her rather than attempting to vote to expel Libby, thereby allowing a new election.
But two assistant attorneys general for the state, Kimberly Patwardhan and Jonathan Bolton, countered that the House's censure vote is clearly covered by the constitution's "legislative immunity" provision which protects state and federal lawmakers while engaged in the legislative process.
They also said that Fecteau is merely enforcing a House rule that has been on the books in Maine for as long as Maine has been a state, although Libby is only the fourth House member in history to be censured during that time.
"These are the rules that Rep. Libby agreed to at the beginning of the session and these are the rules that have been in place for more than 200 years," Patwardhan said.
Finally, the state's attorneys pointed out that Libby is still able to carry out all of her other legislative work and can regain her voting and speaking privileges by issuing a formal apology — something that she has refused to do.
DuBose asked pointed questions of both sides but did not immediately rule on Libby's request to lift the restrictions while her case plays out. DuBose sits on the federal bench in Rhode Island but is hearing Libby's case because all of the district court judges recused themselves due to the fact that an employee of the district court is directly involved in or would be affected by the case.
Libby's Facebook posts went viral and drew national attention to Maine's policy of allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' and women's sports. President Trump then clashed publicly with Gov. Janet Mills days after Libby's post. And the Trump administration has since targeted Maine with multiple investigations and moved to cut off federal funding to some programs based on its interpretation of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in scholastic activities.
