As a result of every federal judge in Maine recusing themselves from a Republican State Representative’s case against the Democratic Speaker of the House, the case will now be heard by a Biden-appointed Rhode Island judge with a history of eschewing judicial tradition in favor of strident left-wing activism.
The case in question—which will now be heard by Judge Melissa R. DuBose of the District of Rhode Island—involves Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn), who was censured on Feb. 25 in a 75-70 vote led by House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford). As a result of the censure, Fecteau claimed the House rules permitted him to strip Libby of her right to vote and speak on the floor of the Maine House of Representatives.
On Tuesday night, Libby was, in fact, blocked from voting on a $120 million MaineCare bailout package that Democrats are urgently trying to move through the State Legislature.
The movement to censure Libby was prompted by a post the Auburn conservative made on Facebook that criticized the state of Maine’s policy of forcing female high school athletes to compete against male athletes. The post contained an image of a male high school athlete finishing in 5th place in a male track-and-field event, side-by-side with a later image showing the same athlete finishing first while competing against female athletes.
While orchestrating the censure vote against Libby, Fecteau presented the disciplinary measure as aimed not at Libby’s political views but at the act of posting an image of a minor on social media.
On Tuesday, Libby, joined by several of her constituents, filed suit against Fecteau alleging that depriving her of her right to vote over a Facebook post was unconstitutional.
The following day, every federal judge in the District of Maine filed orders recusing themselves from the case without explanation.
Wednesday afternoon, the Maine Wire reported exclusively that the reason for this recusal was a conflict arising from the employment of the male athlete’s mother. That athlete’s mother is a clerk for the U.S. District Court of Maine.
As a result of the unanimous recusal of Maine’s federal judges, the case has now been re-assigned to the District of Rhode Island, where it will be heard by Judge DuBose.
DuBose, confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 51-47 vote on March 12, 2024, was appointed by President Joe Biden. Her confirmation was hailed by NPR as providing “meaningful representation” to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals because she was, according to local Rhode Island media, the first openly lesbian judge to sit on the Rhode Island District Court.
Prior to her Senate confirmation to Rhode Island’s U.S. District Court, DuBose had served as an associate judge on Rhode Island’s state District Court.
In that capacity, DuBose joined several colleagues in signing a March 31, 2021 letter bucking judicial tradition in favor of solidarity with left-wing activists.
“Traditionally, the Judiciary by way of both custom and judicial canons reserves comment and will not make extra-judicial statements regarding civic engagement,” the letter said. “But, recognizing that this is a moment of inflection for our state and the nation, it is imperative that we lift our voice and reaffirm our commitment to the just and equal treatment of every person who appears before us.”
“It is important that we celebrate the unique contribution that our state’s founders played in infusing principles of religious freedom and separation of powers into the formation of our national identity,” the letter said. “Championed since Rhode Island’s founding in 1636, these principles were boldly codified and beautifully captured in both our state Constitution and the U.S. Constitution. However, it is equally important to recognize and acknowledge the unique and preeminent role that Rhode Island played in the devastating history of slavery in the United States.”
[RELATED: Trump and Mills Go Head to Head Over Trans Row]
“We want to instill confidence in the Black, Latino, Latina, LGBTQ and all under-represented communities that Rhode Island’s courts are their courts, and we will fulfill our constitutional mandate that they receive equal treatment under the law,” the letter said.
DuBose was joined in signing the letter by 12 other judges. According to the letter, DuBose performed a reading; however, the audio of that reading has since been scrubbed from the court’s website.
DuBose also admitted to U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) during her Senate confirmation hearing to having gone through a “Marxist phase.”
Libby’s social media post, which went on to be shared tens of thousands of times, eventually caught the attention of the White House and prompted a high-profile and ongoing spat between President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="36616 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=36616">38 Comments
Janet and the Democrats want to make Maine the highest taxed state in the nation. Looks like she’ll soon get her wish. Now we have absolute evidence that Maine is one of the, if not the, most corrupt state in the country. The saddest part of it is the Dems are doing it openly in front of the entire electorate. They’ll get away with it and still get reelected. This state is absolutely lost.
Libby, no way will she win here! I pray I’m wrong.
How convenient. Guess Ill be reviewing all past court decisions weighted against the court personnel roster to see how many cases will need to be retried. Morons.
Sounds fair🦨
“This comes as Maine Senator Angus King is calling for more transparency from the VA.”
King my man we all know that like the Post Office the VA is a sponge for unemployed vitrains.
Sure sounds like the lesbian wackos have taken over this case! Impossible for Libby and the constituents of Auburn to be treated equally by this judge! The crazy freaks against normal people, a no win situation! Send in Bondi and the feds to clean up Augusta! C’mon man!
Take it to the top Libby!!!
This is total bullshit….Maine judges turn the backs on a Mainer, then hand her over to a LGBTQ judge to judge an LGBTQ case??? WTF 😳….get the appeal ready Laurel, you’re not gonna win at the JV level. This is nuts…
You couldn’t make this shit up if you tried! Is there no justice left that Democrats haven’t bastardized? How much did Mills & Fecteau pay to get left-wing activist DeBose assigned to the case?
If this doesn’t warrent federeral intervention, what the hell does!
Maine is ready to explode, and Democrats just keep starting fires!
FAFO Democrats!
Enough is enough!
Time to make this national news!
Start posting this EVERYWHERE!
Let the nation know!
Stay Maine Strong, Laurel!
Momma says he;s a good boy I mean girl, a very good girl. You just watch as he/she gets a free college ride and is making big bucks at a law firm first year out. Thanks Momma.
That biatch Trump takes a knee to mother Russia. Trump is begging for a 30 day cease fire. Classic! That biatch unregistered foreign agent Trump is also backing down on his Gaza death march idea. Seems Trump realized he’s a dumb biatch from queens and that rural Mainers don’t cotton to that nazi ukraine illegal jew occupying mass murder BS.
Great now ‘Skittles” People are judges …. Burn the whole Country down , Start over !
This is by design.
Poor Laurel can’t catch a break! This one will be going past this court. The Democrats of this state are an infuriating, disgusting disgrace.
Why would a judge who’s supposed to be non biased have the ‘Alphabet’ title in front of her name? That to me, doesn’t sound like someone likely to be fair in any way shape or form…The whole court system needs to be revamped…common law.
It’s been reported all the judges recused themselves because of one person. In the game of transparency, name the person and reason.
You can’t make this shiite up….. This will got to the Supreme court. This is not a civil servant labor organizer issue so the Justice’s are safe as opposed to Friedrichs vs. The California Teachers Association……
Oh no. this judge needs to recuse as well. She has no chance. So not fair!
Libby will have to plan on taking it to the supreme court. Lets hope that Barret comes to her senses by then.
Looks like Ms. Libby just cant catch a break.
Who is the U.S. Attorney General rep for the State of Maine? Can anyone say “Supreme Court Hearing”?
Ding Frys are Done! (State AG office)
Sadly Libby will lose her case now, the fix is in!!! Why else would all the judges in Maine recuse themselves? This way they have plausible deniability.
We shouldn’t even know what the sexual preference of judges are. Once they get described as having this preference or a member of this or that community, we feel they have an agenda and will be non bias. Thank the past 30 years of Liberalism for that.
This judge won’t be looking at the Laws, just feelings… No fair ruling there.
Well she’s screwed. No way she can win with a far leftie who only sees her agendas and can’t review the laws fairly.
This whole situation is underhanded and nasty. I’d like to think it couldn’t get worse, but it probably can. Only one step closer to outright battles in a ring. Government power-plays just plain suck. At least we now know how low dems will go; but I doubt they have a bottom level.
this is a judge that should recuse themselfs as they def have a personal befliefs that will affect judgement
Apparently all the liberal POS marxist appointments in MA had calendars filled, they had to go to the scum in RI to do their dirty work – now the P’sOS can all waste money for a trial that verdict is already known, why don’t you just take the pay off and send it to the supreme court………….
Who would’ve thought that they’d have a rainbow judge for a case related to lgbtq. Could that be considered a conflict of interest??
Why did they send it to Rhode Island? Why not New hampshire? The FIX is in!
Judge Walker brought in ranked choice voting to the Congressional races in Maine.
This is going to have to be settled by the Supreme Court. What a waist of time and $$$ that the Supreme Court needs to be involved in political matters like this. This is common sense, which there is a complete lack of in Government!
General Mills is going to spend taxpayer money to fight anything that is anti Trump! She is going to try and make an example of Rep. Libby because she refused to bend a knee before her! This is complete BS and the Federal DOJ (Pam Bondi) needs to get involved ASAP! I do believe in the end that common sense (Trump Supporters) will prevail. It is going to take a lot of wasteful spending to get there?
Can the Feds step in to protect Mainers from our own leadership?
Sound fishy to me! Maine judges cover up state suppression of speech. Laurel can’t get a fair shake from a radical out of state judge
throw her to an outta state queer.. that will fix her tha dems say.
libby for governor
Confirmation of this DEI hire was hailed by NPR as providing “meaningful representation” to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. The hungry Fox declares the chickens guilty…. Let’s eat!