Maine Attorney Aaron Frey is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant state Rep. Laurel Libby's emergency request to restore her voting rights in the Maine House of Representatives.
Libby, a Republican from Auburn, was censured by Democrats in the Maine House in February for identifying and criticizing a transgender high school student in a social media post.
She has since sued House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, saying the censure violates her First Amendment rights and punishes her constituents.
A federal judge and an appellate court have issued preliminary rulings against those claims, saying that Fecteau was acting within the bounds of legislative immunity. Libby is now asking the Supreme Court to intervene.
In response, Attorney General Frey, who is representing Fecteau, says that the censure order doesn't punish Libby for her views, but that her targeting of a high school student violates the legislature's code of conduct. He also argues Libby can end the censure by apologizing for that conduct and that she still can participate in the legislative process and receive benefits.
In a separate brief, 14 Republican attorneys general backed Libby's claim that the censure violates her rights.
It's not yet clear when the court will rule on her application, which is part of the so-called shadow docket. Unlike typical cases that appear before the court, shadow docket cases have an abbreviated briefing schedule and there are no oral arguments before the justices. Decisions are often unsigned and sometimes there is little to no rationale for the court's ruling.
Libby's post identified the transgender athlete but blurred the faces of two other girls to protect their identities. It was amplified by conservative media in the days before President Donald Trump confronted Gov. Janet Mills on Feb. 21 at the White House, telling her to comply with his executive order banning transgender athletes from competing on girls' sports teams or lose federal funding. The Trump administration then launched a pressure campaign against the state, freezing several federal grants. It eventually sued the state in a case that will be heard by a federal court later this year.
