Trump, Maine governor trade barbs over transgender athletes
President Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills clashed over Trump’s order banning transgender athletes from playing in women sports.
WASHINGTON – Attorney General Pam Bondi issued letters to officials in California, Minnesota and Maine on Tuesday warning them to keep transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports.
All three states have laws in place that either ban discrimination based on gender identity or allow students to participate in activities consistent with their gender identity. The warning comes as officials have argued that state laws take precedence over a federal mandate recently issued by President Donald Trump.
The letters were addressed to Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Ron Nocetti, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Erich Martens, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League.
“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi said in a statement, according to a news release. “We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s executive order protecting women’s sports.”
The executive order, signed Feb. 5 by Trump, bars transgender student athletes from playing women’s sports and cuts off federal money for schools that don’t comply. It directs the Department of Education to pursue “enforcement actions” under Title IX to noncompliant states.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights had launched a Title IX investigation into the Maine Department of Education last Friday over allegations that the state is continuing to allow transgender athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic sports.
The move came after a dustup between Mills and President Donald Trump at the White House, during which he told her Maine could lose federal funding if it doesn’t comply with his executive order.
By the end of the heated exchange, the Democratic governor threatened to sue the president over the issue. “We’ll see you in court,” Mills said.
She wrote in a follow-up statement on Friday after the investigation was launched that “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.”
The Department of Education also opened a Title IX investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation and the Minnesota State High School League earlier this month after both groups announced they would let transgender athletes compete on teams that correspond with their gender identity.
USA TODAY reached out to the Mills, Ellison, Martens and Nocetti for comment.
Contributing: Joey Garrison