The Trump administration announced Wednesday it is suing Maine's education department for not complying with the government's push to ban transgender athletes in girls sports. State Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat, has been a fierce advocate for transgender athletes.
The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Trump administration and Mills, which led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told President Donald Trump "we'll see you in court."
Attorney General Pam Bondi— and several athletes who joined her on stage at the Justice Department— claim the dispute is a priority for President Trump. Bondi said other states, including Minnesota and California, could be sued as well.
"This has been a huge issue for him," Bondi said of the president. "Pretty simple, girls play in girls sports, boys play in boys sports. Women play in women's sports, men play in men's sports."
Mills was quick to respond to the lawsuit, defending her state's stance and promising to continue fighting for transgender athletes. According to NCAA president Charlie Baker, fewer than 10 of the 510,000 collegiate athletes nationwide publicly identify as transgender.
"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. 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," she wrote.
"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," the governor 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 a warning to all states: Maine might be among the first to draw ire of the Federal government in this way, but we will not be the last."
Maine sued the administration this month after the Department of Agriculture said it was pausing some money for the state's educational programs because of what the administration contended was Maine's failure to comply with a Title IX antidiscrimination law.
Sarah Foster, Maine's assistant attorney general, said last week in a letter to the Education Department that nothing in the law "prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls' and women's sports teams."
The administration has already attempted to withhold the federal government's entire $250 million contribution to Maine's K-12 education budget and freeze school lunch funding— a move temporarily blocked by a federal judge after Maine filed its own lawsuit.
Questions over the rights of transgender people have become a major political issue in the past five years. Twenty-six states have laws or policies barring transgender girls from girls school sports. GOP-controlled states have also been banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and restricting bathroom use in schools and sometimes other public buildings.
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