Trump DOJ files civil suit against Maine in standoff over transgender athletes in women’s sports

The Justice Department has filed suit against Maine in an effort to challenge the state’s policy regarding transgender athletes competing in girls’ and women’s sports, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday.

The lawsuit alleges Maine’s policy violates Title IX and stems from a broader effort by the Trump administration to spotlight an issue that they see as politically damaging for Democrats.

“The State of Maine, through its Department of Education, is openly and defiantly flouting federal anti-discrimination law by enforcing policies that require girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions designated exclusively for girls,” the lawsuit said. “By prioritizing gender identity over biological reality, Maine’s policies deprive girl athletes of fair competition, deny them equal athletic opportunities, and expose them to heightened risks of physical injury and psychological harm.”

Bondi announced the lawsuit alongside anti-trans activist Riley Gaines and other parents and students from Maine who have objected to the state’s policies regarding transgender athletes.

“The Department of Justice will not sit by when women are discriminated against in sports. This is about sports. This is also about these young women’s personal safety,” Bondi said in remarks at DOJ. “I met many of these women throughout the past weeks and months, and what they have been through is horrific.”

The lawsuit is likely just the first in a series of legal challenges brought by the Trump administration, after Bondi previously sent warning letters in February to state officials in Maine, California and Minnesota ordering them to “comply with federal anti-discrimination laws that require them to keep men out of women’s sports.”

Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has blasted the Trump administration’s efforts to strip federal funding from Maine as executive overreach and downplayed the issue of transgender athletes participating in girls’ and women’s sporting events.

“Because there are two, maybe two, trans athletes competing in Maine schools right now, they decided to shut off funding for the school nutrition program, the school lunch program, entirely,” Mills said in an interview earlier this week. “The law says if you don’t like what a state is doing over here, you can’t just take the funds away over here.”