The Trump administration announced a lawsuit on Wednesday against Maine’s education department for defying an executive order barring men from women’s sports.
State officials said last week that Maine will not comply with the executive order, even though an investigation found that Maine violated anti-discrimination laws by continuing the practice of allowing men into women’s sports
The standoff between the administration and the state’s Democrat Gov. Janet Mills has been brewing since February.
Mills had told Trump at a meeting of governors at the White House in February, after Trump warned the state that they would lose federal funding if they didn’t comply with his executive order, that “[W]e’ll see you in court.” Trump subsequently replied that he looked forward to it.
Trump then cut off funding to certain schools in the University of Maine System (UMS).
The Office of Civil Rights had also issued a notice of violation against the Maine Department of Education last month in response to the state’s violations of federal regulations regarding Title IX.
However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said late last month that UMS then agreed to comply with the executive order.
“After the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated a Title IX compliance review regarding federal funding, the University of Maine System (UMaine) has clearly communicated its compliance with Title IX’s requirement to protect equal opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair sports, as articulated in President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order. Any false claim by the UMaine can, and will, result in onerous and even potentially criminal financial liability,” the USDA said at the time.
“The University of Maine System has always maintained its compliance with state and federal laws and with NCAA rules, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture also affirmed in a press release today. We are relieved to put the Department’s Title IX compliance review behind us so the land-grant University of Maine and our statewide partners can continue to leverage USDA and other essential federal funds to strengthen and grow our natural resource economy and dependent rural communities through world-class education, research and extension,” said UMS Chancellor Dannel Malloy at the time.
The battle between Trump and Maine is also showing itself at the state level, when Republican Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby was censured by the Maine House of Representatives for pointing out that a boy won a girl's pole vault competition in the state championship.
Libby had posted two photos to Facebook showing a high school teenager who competed in the competition as a male one year and as a female the next.