The highest court in the land just weighed in on a free speech battle that’s been brewing for months.
Seven Supreme Court justices sided with a lawmaker who had been stripped of her ability to represent her constituents.
And now SCOTUS justices have delivered one stunning ruling that has Democrats fuming after they tried to silence this Republican over her views.
Maine Rep. was punished for speaking up for girls’ sports
Maine State Representative Laurel Libby won a decisive victory at the Supreme Court on Tuesday when the justices restored her ability to vote in the legislature after Democrats had censured her for defending women’s sports on social media.
Republican Libby had been stripped of her voting rights after she posted on social media opposing biological males competing in women’s sports.
The unprecedented punishment came from Democrat House Speaker Ryan Fecteau, who not only silenced her but also barred her from voting “until she recants her view.”
This extreme punishment effectively disenfranchised the entire district Libby represents.
“This means her thousands of constituents in Maine House District 90 are now without a voice or vote for every bill coming to the House floor for the rest of her elected term, which runs through 2026,” explained Libby’s emergency petition to the Supreme Court.
“They are disenfranchised. Libby and her district had no vote on the State’s $11 billion budget, had no vote on a proposed constitutional amendment, and will have no vote on hundreds more proposed laws including—most ironically—whether Maine should change its current policy of requiring girls to compete alongside transgender athletes.”
Supreme Court sides with free speech against woke censorship
The Supreme Court’s decision to restore Libby’s voting rights represents a significant victory for free speech and constitutional rights. The Court’s intervention sends a strong message that elected officials cannot be silenced simply for expressing their views, especially on contentious political issues like the protection of women’s sports.
Representative Libby celebrated the ruling on social media, writing: “The U.S. Supreme Court just restored the voice of 9,000 Mainers! After 2+ months of being silenced for speaking up for Maine girls, I can once again vote on behalf of the people of House District 90. This is a win for free speech — and for the Constitution.”
The decision wasn’t unanimous, however. Predictably, leftist Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, revealing once again the ideological divide on the Court when it comes to free speech issues.
🚨 BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court orders the Democrat Maine Legislature to RESTORE the voting rights of Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, who was censured because she identified a transgender athlete who unfairly won a girls’ pole vault competition.
7-2. Jackson, Sotomayor against. pic.twitter.com/hAuCcgE9TV
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 20, 2025
Justice Jackson questioned the Court’s authority to intervene in what she characterized as internal legislative matters, writing, “Whether the House’s censure and resulting sanction violate Libby’s constitutional rights, or those of her constituents, raises many difficult questions. What are the limits on a state legislature’s ability to bind its members to ethics rules? Do federal courts have the authority to determine that those rules are improper?”
Trump DOJ supported Libby’s case
The Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Trump filed a brief supporting Libby’s application last Friday, signaling that the administration recognized the dangerous overreach by Maine Democrats.
Following the Court’s decision, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon praised the outcome, writing on X: “We need more brave lawmakers like Rep. Libby standing up for young women!”
😮 Wow!! Congrats to the voters in her district and to @laurel_libby ! We at @CivilRights were proud to file an amicus brief supporting the First Amendment issues in this case. We need more brave lawmakers like Rep. Libby standing up for young women! https://t.co/JC8UuUO5D2
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@HarmeetKDhillon) May 20, 2025
The Maine Democrats’ attempt to silence Libby represents yet another disturbing example of how far the Left will go to punish those who stand up for biological reality in sports.
By censuring Libby and stripping her of voting rights, they effectively nullified the democratic process for an entire district of voters.
This case highlights the growing tension between free speech rights and the radical gender ideology being pushed in states across the country.
The Supreme Court’s intervention suggests that there are limits to how far governments can go in punishing speech that challenges progressive orthodoxy on gender issues.
The ruling is especially timely as debates about biological males competing in women’s sports continue to intensify nationwide, with more states considering legislation to protect the integrity of women’s athletics.
Representative Libby’s victory at the Supreme Court serves as an important reminder that elected officials cannot be silenced for defending common-sense positions on controversial issues, especially when those positions align with the views of many of their constituents.
