Trump v. Maine: DOJ sues state over trans athletes in women’s sports

• The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Maine for alleged violations of Title IX related to transgender athletes in girls’ sports. The move follows President Donald Trump’s call to pull federal funding from Maine after an exchange with Gov. Janet Mills over the issue in February.
• Maine officials maintain that Title IX does not prohibit transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports.
• Twenty-six states currently have laws or policies in place barring biological males from participating in female school sports.

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Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday, April 16 that the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Maine, accusing it of violating Title IX and defying President Donald Trump’s executive order to bar transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports.

The lawsuit comes after Maine Gov. Janet Mills told Trump during a bipartisan governors’ meeting in February at the White House, “We’ll see you in court,” after Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Maine if it refused to comply with the executive order.

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Bondi’s remarks during press conference

Bondi delivered the announcement during a press conference alongside conservative activist and former swimmer Riley Gaines and fencer Stephanie Turner. Turner gained viral attention earlier this year after kneeling in protest during a match against a transgender opponent.

“The Department of Justice will not sit by when women are discriminated against in sports,” Bondi said. “What they have been through is horrific. We are going to continue to fight for women.”

Bondi said the administration is seeking an injunction and the reinstatement of titles to girls who she says rightfully won competitions in which transgender athletes participated.

“We want to get states to comply with us,” she said.

Maine issues a statement in response

In response to the DOJ’s lawsuit, Mills issued a statement, which read in part:

“Today is the latest, expected salvo in an unprecedented campaign to pressure the State of Maine to ignore the Constitution and abandon the rule of law. This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed, it is about states rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law.” 

Maine Gov. Janet Mills

State and federal tensions escalate

The lawsuit marks the latest development in an escalating legal and political battle between the state of Maine and the Trump administration. Earlier in April 2025, Maine sued the federal government after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would pause funding for certain educational programs, citing the state’s alleged noncompliance with Title IX.

On Friday, April 11, a federal judge ordered the administration to unfreeze the funds in Maine while the lawsuit plays out.

In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Education on April 11, Maine Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster argued, “Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams.”

Maine school district defies state

One school district in Maine is taking matters into its own hands. The MSAD #70 School Board voted unanimously on Monday, April 14, to comply with Title IX and amend its policies to prevent transgender athletes from competing in girls’ sports. Superintendent Tyler Putnam confirmed the decision.

In Maine’s capitol city, Augusta, Maine high school student Cassidy Carlisle spoke at a rally in opposition of the governor’s stance. Carlisle went to the White House in March 2025 to share her experience as a Maine athlete who lost to a trans athlete in cross-country and Nordic skiing.

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The issue on a national scale

Currently, 26 states have laws or policies in place that bar transgender athletes from participating in girls’ school sports.

A New York Times poll found 79% of Americans do not want biological males who identify as women to participate in women’s sports.