A group of 16 Republican attorneys general led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti signed a letter warning the state of Maine not to pursue a controversial piece of legislation that would enshrine the state as a sanctuary state for child sex change interventions.
The letter to Governor Janet Mills (D-ME), Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, the president of the state Senate, and speaker of the state House addressed a piece of legislation called LD 227, condemning it as unconstitutional. The law would shield medical providers who assist with sex change attempts from lawsuits, openly protect against “out-of-state laws that ban or restrict care that is legal in Maine,” and strip parents of legal recourse if their child traveled to Maine for sex change interventions.
“While it is extremely unusual for States to interject themselves into another State’s lawmaking, LD 227’s unique constitutional transgressions merit our comment,” the letter explains before noting that the legislation “seeks to contravene the lawful policy choices of our States’ citizens by imposing on the rest of the country Maine’s views on hotly debated issues such as gender transition surgeries for children. The law’s far-reaching provisions are unprecedented.”
The letter specifically contends that the legislation “violates the United States Constitution and flouts the federalist structure that allows each of our States to engage in self-government responsive to the will of our citizens.” It outlines the specific legal precedents that the legislation violates before adding that “the federal Constitution, in short, precludes Maine’s novel effort at state-sanctioned culture war litigation tourism.”
“Maine has every right to decide what Maine’s laws are and how those laws should be enforced,” the letter stated.“But that same right applies to every State. One State cannot control another. The totalitarian impulse to stifle dissent and oppress dissenters has no place in our shared America.”
“If Maine pursues LD 227’s constitutionally defective approach, we will vigorously avail ourselves of every recourse our Constitution provides,” the Republican attorneys general warned.
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Skrmetti who was joined by the attorneys general of Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia.