Maine Rep Laurel Libby Fights Back After Censure Over Trans Athlete Post, Takes Battle to Appeals Court

Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby is refusing to back down after being censured by the Democrat-led legislature for a social media post that identified a transgender athlete who won a girls' state pole vault competition earlier this year. On Monday, Libby filed an emergency appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging a recent verdict from U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose that upheld her censure—and yes, Judge DuBose was appointed by President Biden just before he left office.

The censure, which Libby says effectively silences her and her 9,000 constituents in District 90, came after she went public with her criticism of the state’s transgender athlete policies. After losing her lawsuit to overturn the censure, Libby now says she’s willing to take her fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Libby stated, "Our appeal asks the court to correct this abuse of power and reaffirm that legislative leadership cannot use procedural maneuvers and sweeping assertions of immunity to sideline dissenting voices and disenfranchise entire communities." She emphasized that the "integrity of representative government" is at stake, insisting her constituents deserve full representation. It’s not every day you see a lawmaker so thoroughly benched that her entire district is left on mute for two months straight.

Since her censure, Libby has been barred from voting on key issues, including the state's biannual budget and a bill to expand mental health resources, as well as speaking on the House floor about a controversial proposal to enshrine trans inclusion in girls’ sports in the state constitution.

While the House narrowly passed the trans inclusion bill, it still faces a high bar: a two-thirds majority in both chambers is required before it can go to a public vote. If it passes, it would lock in the Maine Human Rights Act’s protections for transgender athletes statewide.

Libby’s case took an unusual turn when every district judge in Maine recused themselves without explanation, pushing the case to Judge DuBose in Rhode Island. That’s one way to get a judicial road trip—straight out of Maine and into another state’s courtroom.

Meanwhile, Maine is also tangling with the federal government over its stance on trans athletes. The Department of Justice has hit the state with a lawsuit, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture temporarily froze funding in an effort to force compliance with policies from the Trump era, though a judge later lifted the freeze. Governor Janet Mills and the Democratic leadership, for their part, have pushed back with their own legal action.

For now, Libby is pushing ahead: "This appeal is about far more than one legislator’s seat – it’s about defending the constitutional rights of 9,000 Mainers who currently have no voice and no vote in the Maine House of Representatives," she said, promising to keep pressing forward until her district is heard again in Augusta.