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Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby is seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention in her lawsuit to overturn her censure for a social media post that identified a minor trans athlete. Now, the Democrat defendants have filed their response to the high court.
The defendants, Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau and House Clerk Robert Hunt, represented by Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, defended the decision to censure Libby for the February post in their response on Thursday afternoon.
“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.”
Libby provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing the response.
“I was elected to represent the people of my district and defend their rights. I spoke up to defend the rights of women and girls—who are being discriminated against and silenced under policies that allow biological males to compete in female sports. For that, I’ve been targeted and punished, not for misconduct, but for refusing to issue a forced apology. The First Amendment protects my right to speak—and just as importantly, my right not to be compelled to say something I do not believe,” she said.
When the Democrat majority in Maine’s House of Representatives voted to censure Libby on Feb. 25, it originally offered to restore her voting and speaking rights if she apologized for the post. But Libby told them she wouldn’t apologize.
Libby previously told Fox News Digital that Fecteau called her the day after she made the social media post, which identified a trans athlete who won a girls’ pole vault competition, on Feb. 18.
“He found it objectionable and asked me to take it down. At the same time, I asked him if he would support Maine girls and support policy that stopped discrimination against Maine young women in sports, and he declined to answer,” Libby said.
“The main criticism all along from the Democrats is that it was a picture of a minor.”
Libby added 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.
MAINE GIRL INVOLVED IN TRANS ATHLETE BATTLE REVEALS HOW STATE’S POLICIES HURT HER CHILDHOOD AND SPORTS CAREER
Libby filed her lawsuit against Fecteau to have the censure overturned on March 11.
But Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose ruled against Libby in her case on April 22. DuBose, appointed by former President Joe Biden in January, ended up presiding over the case after every district judge in Maine refused to take it.
Judges John C. Nivison, John A. Woodcock, Lance E. Walker, Karen F. Wolf, Stacey D. Neumann and Nancy Torresen signed recusal orders shortly after the case was initially filed. No reason was given.
DuBose ended up with the case and ruled in favor of Fecteau. Then the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled against Libby.
So now Libby is seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department announced a lawsuit against the State of Maine for its continued defiance of Trump’s executive order to keep biological males out of girls’ and women’s sports and for violations of Title IX. Libby attended the press conference alongside Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
Two school districts in Maine, Maine’s Regional School Unit No. 24 and MSAD No. 70, have taken matters into their own hands and amended their local sports gender eligibility policies to ban transgender athletes from girls’ competitions, aligning with Libby and Trump.
Attention to the issue was magnified this past week after a trans athlete won multiple events at a girls’ track meet.
A trans-identifying athlete who competed for North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Maine, in the Poland-NYA-Yarmouth-Seacoast meet, won the 1600-meter race with a time of 5:57.27, blowing away the second-place runner who finished with a time of 6:16.32. In the 800-meter event, the trans athlete had a closer first-place finish with a time of 2:43.31, just around a second better than the second-place finisher with a time of 2:44.87.
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.
Fox News’ Shannon Bream and William Mears contributed to this report.
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