Donald Trump’s administration has announced that it is suing Maine‘s Department of Education for allowing transgender girls to participate in girls sports.
The lawsuit was announced Wednesday morning by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who claimed that the administration was supposedly continuing to “fight for women.” It comes just over one week after Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to lift Trump’s pause on education funding to the state over its inclusive athletics policies.
Enacted last week by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, the pause withholds funds used to feed school children and disabled adults. A federal court granted Maine’s request and temporarily blocked the freeze Friday.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said in a statement that “my Administration and Maine’s Attorney General will vigorously defend our state against the action announced today from the Department of Justice.”
“Today is the latest, expected salvo in an unprecedented campaign to pressure the State of Maine to ignore the Constitution and abandon the rule of law,” Mills said. “This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed, it is about states rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law.”
Trump signed the so-called “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in February directing federal agencies, public schools, colleges, and even the U.S. Olympic Committee to ban trans women and girls from competing in women’s sports under his interpretation that Title IX does not encompass trans people. He said that schools and athletic organizations that do not comply will lose federal funding.
Trump singled out Mills at the National Governors Association meeting at the White House shortly after signing the order, directly asking, “Is Maine here, the governor of Maine here? Are you not going to comply with it?” Mills replied that she is “complying with state and federal laws.”
Trump then threatened “you better comply because otherwise, you’re not getting any federal funding,” to which Mills only said, “We’ll see you in court.”
Trump’s Department of Education, which he is attempting to completely dismantle through a recent executive order, launched an investigation into Maine shortly after Trump’s heated exchange with Mills. A second investigation was then initiated by the Department of Health and Human Services, with the office concluding after just four days and without interviewing any state officials that Maine violated Title IX by allowing trans athletes to compete. Such investigations usually take months.
Maine’s trans-inclusive sports policies are indeed following state and federal laws. Discrimination against transgender individuals is illegal in Maine under the Maine Human Rights Act, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that federal laws protecting against sex discrimination in employment, including Title VII, encompass gender identity. Trump’s executive orders, which are being challenged in courts, are not law.
A comprehensive review of several studies on trans participation in sports under their gender identity found that trans athletes, post-transition, are “more similar to their gender identity.” It noted that both transgender and cisgender athletes show great variations in ability.
“For nearly two months, Maine has endured recriminations from the Federal government that have targeted hungry school kids, hardworking fishermen, senior citizens, new parents, and countless Maine people,” Mills continued. “We have been subject to politically motivated investigations that opened and closed without discussion, leaving little doubt that their outcomes were predetermined. Let today serve as warning to all states: Maine might be among the first to draw the ire of the Federal government in this way, but we will not be the last.”
“This is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation,” she concluded. “I believe he cannot.”