“The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a Department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department.”
Update: On Wednesday morning, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice is suing Maine's Department of Education, alleging violations of Title IX. Bondi told reporters, "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 US Department of Education has referred its Title IX investigation into the state of Maine over its allowance of trans-identified males in women’s sports to the Department of Justice for "further enforcement action."
Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement, "The Department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy, and dignity."
"The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a Department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department. Governor Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom—be careful what you wish for. Now she will see the Trump Administration in court."
In February, when the battle over the allowance of trans-identified males in women’s sports in the state began, Mills told President Donald Trump at a governors’ meeting at the White House, "see you in court." Trump replied, "Good, I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that." The governors’ meeting came after Trump signed an executive order that revoked federal funding from schools that allow trans-identified males in women’s sports. Maine has refused to comply with this order.
The Department of Education sent a final warning letter to the state on March 31. The letter stated that Maine had until April 11 to reach an agreement with the Office of Civil Rights, or the case would be referred to the Department of Justice. The Department of Education said that it would "simultaneously" be initiating an "administrative proceeding to adjudicate termination of MDOE’s federal K-12 education funding, including formula and discretionary grants" while they referred the case to the DOJ.
This comes as a judge has ordered that the US Department of Agriculture "must immediately unfreeze and release to the state of Maine any federal funding that they have frozen or failed or refused to pay because of the state of Maine's alleged failure to comply with the requirements of Title IX."
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