Stripped of Her Vote for a Facebook Post

This news from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression:

Maine's House of Representatives voted along party lines to strip a legislator from her ability to vote on legislation or speak on the House floor.

Why? They disagree with a Facebook post she made criticizing the decision to allow a transgender teenager to compete in a female sport competition.



Just days after Rep. Laurel Libby's post, the Maine House speaker and majority leader demanded she take it down. When she refused, the majority leader introduced a censure resolution to punish her because the post included photos and the first name of the student, who is a minor. (The photo and name were publicly available — including from media outlets.)

Maine's legislators can't make up their own rules as an end-run around the First Amendment. Elected officials are constantly posting photos of minors in sporting events — and when those photos touch on hotly debated public issues, as the photo Rep. Libby posted does — the First Amendment squarely protects them.

When Rep. Libby refused to apologize for her protected speech, the House speaker declared she would be barred from speaking on the floor or voting on any legislation until she capitulated, effectively disenfranchising her constituents.

If political majorities can impose draconian sanctions on political minorities, then no viewpoint is safe.

Members of the majority party could have responded in many ways: Criticize her for her post, make posts of their own, or just ignore it. But they can't strip her of her ability to vote or speak on the floor.

By punishing her, they veered into blatantly unconstitutional viewpoint-based retaliation.

That's why FIRE just filed an amicus brief arguing that a district court should reverse the punishment. Because Rep. Libby's unconstitutional punishment — and the threat it highlights — are an affront to our liberty, no matter our politics.

FIRE