Maine sues USDA after funding freeze amid dispute over transgender athletes

Apr 8

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Jodie Hawkins Senior Producer

By Jodie Hawkins (Senior Producer)

Maine sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture over a recent funding freeze. The state’s attorney general is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the freeze while the court considers the case.
The lawsuit involves arguments over whether the state’s stance on transgender athletes violates Title IX and whether the USDA has the authority to withhold federal funds intended for essential programs like school feeding and services for disabled adults.
A court decision on the temporary restraining order will determine whether the funding freeze will remain in effect while the legal battle continues.

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Maine isn’t backing down on the issue of transgender athletes participating in female sports. On Monday, April 7, the state sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture over a recent funding freeze.

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In the lawsuit, filed by the attorney general of Maine, Aaron Frey, he said schools are required by Title IX and the equal protection clause to allow biological males to play on women’s sports teams. He argued that the federal government is withholding federal funds that go towards keeping children fed in schools, after-school programs and programs for disabled adults.

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The complaint names Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, who sent a letter to Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills on April 2 announcing the freeze and alleging that the state violated Title IX in educational programming.

What did Rollins say in her letter?

Rollins initially said the freeze would not affect food-providing programs but would target “certain administrative and technological functions in schools.”

“This pause does not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance to Mainers; if a child was fed today, they will be fed tomorrow,” Rollins stated in the letter.

The lawsuit claims the Maine Department of Education’s Child Nutrition Program lost access to several sources of federal funding on April 3.

“Under the banner of keeping children safe, the Trump Administration is illegally withholding grant funds that go to keeping children fed,” Frey said in a statement. “This is just another example where no law or consequence appears to restrain the administration as it seeks capitulation to its lawlessness. The President and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law and they are not above the law, and this action is necessary to remind the President that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”