The Department of Justice sues Maine more than trans athletes
Attorney General Pam Bondy has announced a lawsuit against Maine’s Department of Education over the state’s denial of banning transgender athletes.
President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday agreed to refrain from unilaterally blocking Maine’s access to federal funds used to feed school children, ending one of several legal battles stemming from the state’s refusal to comply with his request to ban the state’s girls’ sports teams.
The USDA settled with a democratically-led state three weeks after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking cuts in federal funds used in nutrition programs.
“We are pleased to receive the funds that Congress directed the lawsuit to resolve and Maine receives the funds that Congress has directed to support children and vulnerable adults,” the Democrat Maine Attorney General said in a statement.
USDA did not respond to requests for comment.
The settlement will not affect the Trump administration’s decision to sues Maine on all claims that it would ban Title IX, which prohibits gender-based discrimination in education programs or the U.S. Department of Education’s decision to commence administrative procedures to cut all funding for Maine’s public schools.
The U.S. Department of Education and Justice claims that Maine is violating Title IX by enabling trans athletes to participate in women’s and women’s sports.
The education department receives Maine’s approximately $250 million in school funding each year to put it at risk. The USDA’s problematic funds amounted to around $3 million.
Democrat Maine Gov. Janet Mills clashed with the Republican president over the issue of trans athletes during a White House event in February.
At a February 21 meeting with the governor, Trump threatened to withhold funds from Maine if he fails to comply with an executive order that signed a signature banning transgender athletes from playing girls and women’s sports.
“We’re going to follow the law,” replied Mills. “See you in court.”
The USDA was actually the first institution to cut funding to Maine. However, on April 11, US District Judge John Woodcock concluded that when the funds were frozen, it was likely that he was not complying with legal proceedings, and that Maine declared it violated Title IX.
Rather than filing a lawsuit over whether a long-term injunction should be issued, the USDA agreed not to freeze or terminate state access to future federal funds without following all legally necessary procedures.
