WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Supreme Court restored the legislative voting privileges of a Maine Republican lawmaker who had been censured in connection with her advocacy against male student-athletes using transgenderism to gain competitive advantage against girls.
As previously covered by LifeSiteNews, in February, “Katie Spencer” won first place in pole vault for Greely High School at the Class B state championship meet. Spencer is actually a male student named John Rydzewski, who last year competed as a male and tied for ninth place in the boys’ division. Pole vault coach Allen Cornwall said he had attempted to warn officials about Spencer/Rydzewski’s participation, but “no one dares to address it.”
State Rep. Laurel Libby posted about the situation on Facebook, including photos of Rydzewski as both a boy and a girl at the different events. Despite the competition being a public event, and mainstream media coverage such as the Press Herald’s containing numerous photos of the student competitors, Maine Democrats decided that Libby’s use of event photos in a more critical manner was beyond the pale. The House voted in favor of a resolution censuring her for having “identified the student athlete by name and shared pictures showing the minor in an athletic uniform with the school name clearly legible and blurred the faces of other student athletes to protect their privacy, while intentionally and deliberately leaving the named student’s face exposed (…) without that minor’s consent, in an effort to advance her political agenda.”
The resolution further faulted her for refusing to take down the post when asked, accused her of violating a “basic tenet of politics and good moral character that children should not be targeted by adult politicians,” and claimed the school had to increase security as a result, amounting to an alleged violation of the Legislative Code of Ethics. Libby refused to apologize on the House floor, instead having a contentious exchange on the floor with Democrat House Speaker Ryan Fecteau.
“This censure motion makes a mockery of the censure process,” Republican House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham said at the time. “It sets a standard that says that the majority party, when they’re displeased with a social media post that upsets them, can censure a member of the minority party, and by a majority vote, censure them.”
Libby appealed the matter, and on Tuesday the nation’s highest court ruled 7-2 in her favor without elaboration. Far-left Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson were the two votes against her, with Jackson penning a dissent that argued Libby was not in danger of missing any critical votes before the date a lower court was slated to rule.
“This is a victory not just for my constituents but for the Constitution itself,” Libby herself declared. “The Supreme Court has affirmed what should NEVER have been in question — that no state legislature has the power to silence an elected official simply for speaking truthfully about issues that matter.”
“The Department of Justice is proud to fight for girls in Maine and stand alongside Rep. Libby, who is being attacked simply for defending girls in her home state. As our lawsuit against the state of Maine illustrates, we will always protect girls’ sports and girls’ spaces from radical gender ideology,” added U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who filed an amicus brief on Libby’s behalf.
Mandatory inclusion of gender-confused individuals in opposite-sex sports is promoted as a matter of “inclusivity,” but critics note that indulging “transgender” athletes undermines the original rational basis for having sex-specific athletics in the first place, thereby depriving female athletes of recognition and professional or academic opportunities.
There have been numerous high-profile examples in recent years of men winning women’s competitions, and research affirms that physiology gives males distinct athletic advantages that cannot be fully negated by hormone suppression.
In a 2019 paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, New Zealand researchers found that “healthy young men (do) not lose significant muscle mass (or power) when their circulating testosterone levels were reduced to (below International Olympic Committee guidelines) for 20 weeks,” and “indirect effects of testosterone” on factors such as bone structure, lung volume, and heart size “will not be altered by hormone therapy;” therefore, “the advantage to transwomen (biological men) afforded by the (International Olympic Committee) guidelines is an intolerable unfairness.”
Critics also argue that forcing girls to share intimate facilities such as bathrooms, showers, or changing areas with members of the opposite sex violates their privacy rights, subjects them to needless emotional stress, and gives potential male predators a viable pretext to enter female bathrooms or lockers by simply claiming transgender status.
Even the left-wing United Nations has acknowledged as much via an October 2024 report by Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem, who found that more than 600 female athletes around the world have lost more than 890 medals to men in 29 sports as of March 2024. “To avoid the loss of a fair opportunity, males must not compete in the female categories of sport,” the report concluded.
In February, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring school athletic programs to limit female-specific teams to real females in order to continue receiving Title IX funds.
Maine was thrust into the spotlight of the issue when Trump told Gov. Janet Mills at a White House event, “you better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding.” His Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights subsequently opened an investigation into Maine’s compliance with the administration’s take on Title IX, citing the Greely case.
In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) temporarily paused aid to the University of Maine System (UMS) pending a compliance review, then restored the money after receiving assurance to its satisfaction, although the White House later found other entities in the state (the Maine Department of Education, Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School) in violation and gave them 10 days to reverse course or lose funding, citing the aforementioned pole vaulter. Maine is suing the USDA over its related freeze of education funding for a child nutrition program without a formal investigation.
