Justice Department sues Maine for allowing transgender athletes in girls sports
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Attorney General Pam Bondi listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 10. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Attorney General Pam Bondi is suing Maine's education department Wednesday after the state refused to bar trans athletes from girls' sports in accordance with an order from President Trump.
The big picture: The standoff deepened last week when Maine's attorney general refused to sign an agreement to force the state education agency to change its policy on transgender athletes. Maine argues Title IX does not prohibit schools from allowing transgender girls to participate in girls' sports.
Driving the news: "They must not be reading the same Title IX that we're reading," Bondi said at a Wednesday press conference announcing the lawsuit.
- She said her office is seeking an injunction and is considering whether to "retroactively pull" federal funds from the state "for not complying in the past."
- Bondi said, "We have exhausted every other remedy. We tried to get Maine to comply. We don't like standing up here and filing lawsuits."
Zoom out: The Department of Education on Friday announced it would move to pull Maine's federal education funding and was referring its Title IX investigation into the state education department to the DOJ.
- "I hope Governor [Janet] Mills will recognize that her political feud with the president will deprive the students in her state of much more than the right to fair sporting events," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said at Wednesday's conference.
- Riley Gaines, who has emerged as the activist face of anti-trans sports participation, also spoke at the press conference.
- In 2022, Gaines tied a transgender woman for fifth place in a college swimming event, losing to four other cisgender women.
The other side: Mills vowed in a Wednesday statement to "vigorously defend" Maine against the DOJ's civil lawsuit.
- "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," her statement read.
- Mills continued, "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."
What they're saying: Ash Lazarus Orr of Advocates for Trans Equality, described the suit as "another example of the escalation in the federal government's attacks on trans youth" in a statement to Axios.
- "This lawsuit, rooted in the Trump administration's discriminatory executive order barring trans women and girls from participating in women's sports, is a malicious and baseless move that puts politics over students' rights," Orr said.
Catch up quick: The back-and-forth began earlier this year with a brief clash between Trump and Mills during a National Governors Association event.
- After Trump threatened to revoke the state's funding if it did not comply with his order, Mills replied, "we're going to follow the law," before adding, "See you in court."
- Trump answered, "Good, I'll see you in court."
What's next: Bondi said Wednesday that Minnesota and California, two states that the DOJ warned in February to comply with the president's order, should also "be on notice."
Go deeper: NCAA changes transgender women in sports policy to follow Trump's order
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Advocates for Trans Equality.
