Libby drops censure lawsuit in Maine
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(The Center Square) — A Maine Republican lawmaker who was censured for a social media post about transgender athlete is agreeing to drop a lawsuit against the state Legislature after her voting and speaking rights were restored.
In a letter to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for state Rep. Laurel Libby said the Auburn Republican won’t contest a motion from Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office to dismiss her appeal of a lower court ruling, because the case has been resolved.
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Last month, the Democratic-controlled state Legislature approved a resolution lifting a censure that had prevented the Auburn lawmaker from speaking on the House floor or voting on bills until she publicly apologized for her comments. The reversal came nearly a month after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Libby’s censure, and on the final day of the Legislature’s formal session.
Libby’s attorney, Patrick Strawbridge, said she and other members of the GOP minority had urged democratic leaders to reverse the censure vote for the end of the session, but said they refused.
“To only now turn around and reinstate Rep. Libby’s speaking and voting rights once the session ends smacks of gamesmanship and is — at best — an empty gesture,” he wrote to the appeals court clerk. “There are no more debates to be had, so lifting the restriction now has no actual effect.”
A lawsuit in March by Libby and several of her constituents sought to overturn the censure vote brought by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford, but the legal challenge was rejected by a federal judge who said the court lacks jurisdiction to meddle in the “internal” policies of the Maine Legislature.
Libby appealed the ruling, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals denied her request in a recent order. She then petitioned the Supreme Court to take up her case, which in May granted a preliminary injunction blocking the House’ censure vote.
In court filings, Libby’s lawyers argued the censure violated her First Amendment rights to free speech and tied it to broader legislative rights. She has refused to apologize or take down the Facebook post.
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Libby said Democrats’ efforts to force her to apologize for the social media post failed. She believes the case “sends a clear message: elected officials do not surrender their constitutional rights at the Capitol steps — and neither do the people who sent them there.”
“They didn’t get to silence my district through the full term. They didn’t get to rewrite the First Amendment,” she said in a statement. “Instead, they were forced to reverse themselves, admit the truth, and restore the very voice they tried to strip away.”