DOJ sues Maine over trans athlete policy
By: Philip M. Bailey
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Pan Bondi announced that the Justice Department has field a lawsuit against Maine for refusing to ban transgender women athletes from participating in women's and Girls' sports, marking an escalation of President Donald Trump;s conflict with the state.
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"We believe they are failing to protect women, and it's not only an issue in sports. It is a public safety issue," Bondi said at a news conference April 16. [2025]
..... Joined by other administration officials and anti-trans activists, Bondi said the state's leadership refused multiple attempts to enforce Title IX, the federal law prohibiting discrimination base on sex in educational institution.
..... "We are also considering whether to retroactively pull all the funding that they have received for not complying in the past," Bondi said.
..... The fight between the Trump administration and Maine began at a February 21 [2025] meeting between Trump and a group of governors where he clashed with Maine's Democratic governor, Janet Mills.
..... The president threated to withhold funding if the state refused to comply with an executive order he signed barring transgender women athletes form participating in girls' and women's sports.
...... Mills replied: "We're going to follow the law, sir. We'll see you in court." The tense exchanged went viral Online.
..... Shortly afterword, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights launched investigations into the Maine Department of Education and a local school district, accusing each of allowing transgender athletes to play in girls' sports.
..... Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who attended the April 16 [2025] news conference, said the investigation found Maine "continues to willfully violate Title IX."
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Mills office did not immediately respond to USA Today;s request for comment, but she has said previously her state "will not be intimidated" by the Trump administration.
..... The governor appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on April 14, [2025] where she slammed other attempts by the president to bring her to heel, such as an April 2 [2025] letter form the secretary of agriculture pausing federal money for certain Maine educational programs, such as school lunches, due to alleged Title IX violations.
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Earlier on April 2, [2025] the Department of Education announce it was cutting off the state's $250 million in K-12 public education funds as part of an administrative processing.
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A U.S. District Court judge temporarily blocked the Agriculture Development form choking off funding after Maine sued the federal government.
..... Maine's assistant attorney general, Sarah Forster, told the Department of Education in an April 11 [2025] letter the state would not sign a proposed draft resolution or any revisions.
..... "Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools form allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls' and women's sports teams," she wrote. "Your letter to date do not cite a single case that so holds."
..... Contributing: Reuters