The new lawsuit follows executive orders President Donald Trump issued on his return to office in January that target “gender ideology,” including accommodations for transgender people in sports, employment and other situations. It also follows a high-profile confrontation between Maine Gov. Janet Mills and Trump at a governors’ meeting at the White House in February.
In that exchange, Trump told Mills that Maine needed to change its policies regarding transgender athletes in school sports or it would lose federal funding. Mills said she would follow the law, adding, “See you in court.”
Indeed, Maine beat the Trump administration to the courthouse, suing last week over the federal government’s effort to terminate school lunch funding due to the transgender sports policies. On Friday, U.S. District Judge John Woodcock, a George W. Bush appointee, ordered the Agriculture Department to restore the funding, concluding that federal officials appeared to have violated their own policies in directing the cut-off.
“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 in a statement after the announcement. “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.”
Mills added: “As I have said previously, 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. I believe he cannot.”
In 2020, Idaho became the first state to enact transgender athlete restrictions. Several states since then have passed laws banning transgender student athletes from participating in sports teams that align with their gender identity.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said at the press conference the administration slapped back with its own lawsuit only after dialogue with Maine officials went nowhere. “I hope Gov. 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,” McMahon said.
Bondi warned that California and Minnesota could face similar lawsuits soon if they don’t amend policies accommodating transgender athletes.
As they announced the new lawsuit, Bondi and McMahon were flanked by several women and girls who have vocally complained about being required to compete against transgender opponents and, in some cases, to share locker rooms with transgender teammates.
“I’m frustrated that we have to be here, that we as women have to stand before you all on national television, demanding equal opportunities, demanding privacy in areas of undressing, demanding safety in our sports,” former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines said.
While the Justice Department typically avoids openly partisan rhetoric, Gaines repeatedly mentioned the Democratic Party affiliation of public officials as she railed against their policies allowing transgender women to compete on women’s teams.
“The Democratic Party has really doubled down, tripled down, quadrupled down, on their ridiculous stance,” Gaines said. “That’s sick. It’s regressive, is what it is. Know what Gov. Mills is doing, and again, Democratic governors across the nation, is deeply regressive and utterly misogynistic.”
