DOJ sues Maine over state’s refusal to enforce ban on males in female sports

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against the state of Maine after it refused several requests to comply with President Donald Trump’s directive banning males from competing in female sports.

In a joint press conference with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Bondi said the action was a last resort by the administration after months of warning the state and threatening federal funding.

“Today, the Department of Justice is announcing a civil lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education,” Bondi said at the press conference. “The state of Maine is discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women’s sports; pretty basic stuff. This is a violation of Title IX. 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.”

“See you in court,” @GovJanetMills told @POTUS in February over her refusal to protect women and girls in sports.

Today, @EDSecMcMahon confirmed, “Gov. Mills will definitely get her wish.” https://t.co/v3jelMrUGG pic.twitter.com/CrMgLtNEHd

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 16, 2025

The investigation into Maine’s Department of Education (MDOE) began after the state’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills in February publicly vowed to bring the Trump administration to court over its enforcement of Trump’s February executive order banning men from women’s sports. ED opened an investigation into MDOE the same day and issued a final warning letter to the state on March 31, promising that the next step would be a referral to the DOJ.

“We want to make sure that if you open women’s sports or intimate facilities to males, you expose yourself to federal civil rights investigations,” McMahon said at the conference. “Governor Mills will definitely get her wish.”

On April 11, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced it was pulling all K-12 funding from the state and referring it to the DOJ.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also revoked funds to MDOE on April 2 for the same issue, which the state responded to by filing a lawsuit, claiming the revocation of funds is “blatantly unlawful.”

“Despite repeated warnings from President Trump, Governor Janet Mills and Maine Democrats have continued to discriminate against Maine women and girls, prioritizing their woke ideology over biological reality,” Republican Maine Rep. Laurel Libby said in a statement. “As a result, the Department of Justice has no choice but to take action against the erasure of women and girls in sports. Maine Democrats have doubled down on their far-left agenda, and now our students and families stand poised to lose hundreds of millions in federal funding. Their radical gender ideology is endangering the continued existence of women’s sports and penalizing Maine students, against the will of Maine citizens.”

The USDA also temporarily paused funding to the entire University of Maine System (UMS) on March 10 but announced the system was in compliance with federal law on March 19.

Several female athletes have been injured after being forced to compete against males, such as 19-year-old Payton McNabb, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a male athlete claiming to be a transgender female spiked a volleyball onto her head. Following Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order, the president demanded that the NCAA restore female records taken by male competitors.

During his presidency, former President Joe Biden attempted to rewrite Title IX, a rule meant to protect women from discrimination, to include protections for transgender individuals, which was widely criticized by Republican-led states and faced numerous legal challenges. The rule was challenged and eventually dropped.

Bondi also said that several other states, such as Minnesota and California, face similar actions from the department and “should be on notice.”

Mills’ office and MDOE did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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