JUST ANNOUNED MINUTES AGO HER DEATH IS AHOMICIDE.. THEY HAVE NOT SAID REPRESENTATIVE LAUREL LIBBY — NOW LOOKING TO THE NATION'S HIGHEST COURT TO TRY TO STOP HER CENSURE IN THE MAINE LEGISLATURE. THE REPUBLICAN FROM AUBURN HAS FILED AN EMERGENCY APPLICATION WITH THE U.S. SUPREME COURT.
IT COMES AFTER TWO LOWER COURTS DENIED HER REQUEST TO RESTORE HER PRIVILEGES IN THE MAINE HOUSE. LIBBY HAS BEEN UNABLE TO SPEAK AND VOTE ON THE FLOOR SINCE FEBRUARY. THE HOUSE VOTED Advertisement Maine Rep. Laurel Libby seeks injunction from Supreme Court to stop censure Share Copy Link Copy Maine Rep. Laurel Libby has announced she is seeking an emergency injunction from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the censure that is preventing her from voting and speaking on the floor of the Maine House of Representatives.Monday's announcement comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston denied Libby's motion for an emergency injunction pending appeal.
Watch the most recent report in the video player above.The First Circuit's decision came a week after a U.S. District Court judge denied Libby's motion for immediate legal remedy through an injunction that would have forced Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau to lift Libby's censure while her case makes its way through the courts.Libby said she submitted an application to Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who oversees emergency requests from the First Circuit. Jackson may act on the application herself or refer the matter to the full Supreme Court.On Feb. 25, the Maine House of Representatives voted 75-70 to censure Libby after she named and shared photos of a transgender Maine high school student in a Facebook post, in which she criticized the Maine Principals' Association for allowing transgender student-athletes to compete in girls sports.As a result of the censure, Libby cannot vote on bills or speak on the House floor until she offers a public apology. Libby has said she will not take her Facebook post down and has refused to apologize for the post.Libby, a Republican from Auburn, filed a lawsuit against Fecteau, a Democrat from Biddeford, on March 11 because she claimed the censure violates her constitutional rights.
Six people who reside in Libby's district, Maine House District 90, were included as plaintiffs on the lawsuit. Clerk of the Maine House Robert Hunt was named as a defendant in the lawsuit in addition to Fecteau.Libby filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, but all federal judges in the state recused themselves from the case, which was then referred to the District of Rhode Island.U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose, of the District of Rhode Island, denied Libby's motion for a preliminary injunction on April 18.
In her ruling, DuBose said that although the censure is "a weighty sword to wield," the process Fecteau used to impose the sanction ultimately reflected the will of the majority of Maine House members.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit stated in its court order that Libby's legal team failed to demonstrate that her lawsuit was likely to succeed and failed to show that she would be irreparably harmed should the censure remain in place.BackgroundThe House resolution relating to Libby's censure states that her post named the student-athlete, a minor, and used photos of them without their consent in an effort to advance her political agenda. Those photos identified the child as a student at Greely High School, which prompted an increased police presence on campus upon students' return from February vacation as there was contentious debate over transgender athletes participating in Maine girls' sports following Libby's post.The resolution also stated Libby was in violation of the state's Legislative Code of Ethics, which states "a Legislator is entrusted with the security, safety, health, prosperity, respect and general well-being of those the Legislator serves and with whom the Legislator serves," and that "the Maine Legislator will be ever mindful of the ordinary citizen who might otherwise be unrepresented and will endeavor conscientiously to pursue the highest standards of legislative conduct inside and outside of the State House. ""Sharing images of kids online without their consent is a clear violation of the bond of trust and respect between citizens and their Legislators.
There is a time and place for policy debates. That time and place will never be a social media post attacking a Maine student. Maine kids, and all Maine people, deserve better," Fecteau said after the House censured Libby on Feb. 25.The student-athlete featured in Libby's Facebook post won first place in the girls Class B pole vault competition at the Maine State Indoor Track & Field Championships.In her lawsuit, Libby claimed state championship results were publicly reported online with students' full names, schools and photos, and that coverage of the event — including photographs of the first-place winner and other participants — are publicly accessible on the internet and social media.
"The complaint that Rep. Libby’s speech somehow threatened child safety is irreconcilable with the fact that her speech addresses what occurred at a public competition with publicly available photos already on the internet. There is nothing illegal or threatening about Rep. Libby’s posts, and at no point has she enabled or encouraged any attacks on any individual student," the lawsuit stated. "Instead, she has focused on the state government’s unfair policy and the rights of girls to compete fairly and safely in high school athletics.
"Libby also claimed the censure violates her First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights, as her social media post is constitutionally protected speech on a matter of public concern. "Barring Rep. Libby from speaking or voting on the House floor is a materially adverse action that prevents Rep. Libby from doing her job, interferes with her ability to adequately perform her elected duties, and denies her privileges of the office to which she was duly elected by the people of Maine," the lawsuit stated. "Rep. Libby was retaliated against because of her speech and would not have been censured but for her speech.
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