A Montana state judge rejected an appeal by transgender state representative Zooey Zephyr and a number of her constituents to order Zephyr’s return to the state house floor after Republicans barred her from attending, the Associated Press reports.
The state’s Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen argued that due to the separation of powers, the court could not intervene in the operations of the state house, saying the chamber has “exclusive constitutional authority” to discipline its own members. Republicans claim Zephyr, one of the few Democrats in the state legislature, breached decorum by stating supporters of a bill to ban gender-affirming care for teenagers would lead to “blood on [Republicans’] hands” due to the high rate of suicides among transgender youth.