Auburn Republican Rep. Laurel Libby’s lawsuit against Maine Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) has become moot after her right to speak on the chamber floor was permanently reinstated on the final day of the legislative session.
Under the agreement reached last month, the censure cannot be reinstated when lawmakers reconvene.
For months, Rep. Libby has been fighting a legal battle against Speaker Fecteau over the fallout from her party-line censure earlier this year that stripped her of her rights to speak on the floor or vote in the legislature.
[RELATED: On Final Day of Session, Legislature Lifts Its Gag Order on Rep. Laurel Libby]
The censure sparking this lawsuit came after Libby refused to apologize for a viral social media post depicting a biologically male high school student athlete who took first place in a girls’ track and field contest.
The post continued to gain traction nationwide as it reached up to the highest levels of government and spurred a show-down between Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) and U.S. President Donald Trump (R) on February 27.
After Libby refused House leadership’s demand to apologize for the post — a condition of her censure — Fecteau stripped her of her right to vote and and participate in floor debates.
Libby still retained her right to sponsor legislation, present motions, engage in committee work, and testify at public hearings.
She filed suit against Fecteau in U.S. District Court for alleged violations of her First Amendment rights, and was joined in that case by constituents in Auburn who were deprived of their voice and vote in the State House of Representatives. While a federal judge accepted Fecteau’s counter-argument of legislative immunity, Libby appealed her case to the nation’s highest court.
[RELATED: SCOTUS Restores Rep. Laurel Libby’s Right to Vote, Enjoins Maine Dems’ Censure of Her]
As part of her lengthy legal battle, the United States Supreme Court reinstated her right to vote on legislation while the case played out, but Fecteau was allowed to continue refusing to recognize her on the chamber floor.
Following this ruling, consideration of Libby’s case continued by the First Circuit Court of Appeals where she was seeking a permanent ruling affirming her position that “legislative leadership cannot weaponize procedure to silence dissent.”
On the last day of the Legislature’s First Special Session, lawmakers overwhelmingly voted by a margin of 115-16 to restore her right to speak on the chamber floor with the assurance that the restriction cannot be reimposed next session.
Maine Assistant Attorney General Kimberly Patwardhan argued in a June court filing that there are “no longer any restrictions on Rep. Libby’s ability to vote or debate” so “this appeal is now moot.”
In a statement released Monday, Libby argued that her case has only become moot “because House Democrats backed down in the face of legal defeat.”
“I will not contest the [Attorney General]’s mootness argument—but only because the constitutional rights of my constituents have now been restored and the leadership has formally abandoned the punishment they once insisted was justified,” said Libby. “That change didn’t come voluntarily. It came because we fought back—and we were winning.”
“In the end, the House never got the apology they demanded,” she continued. “They didn’t get to silence my district through the full term. They didn’t get to rewrite the First Amendment.”
“Instead,” she concluded, “they were forced to reverse themselves, admit the truth, and restore the very voice they tried to strip away.”
The case must now be officially dropped by the court, because the proceedings are essentially over as both parties have agreed that the issue is now moot.
