Maine Sues Trump Admin Over Funding Cuts After Refusing To Ban Men From Women’s Sports

The state of Maine filed a lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins for revoking funding after the state refused to comply with the Trump administration’s directive banning men from competing in women’s sports.

The lawsuit claims the USDA’s revocation of funding is “blatantly unlawful” and violates the Administrative Procedure Act for “freezing federal funds allocated to Maine to feed schoolchildren.” Funding from the USDA was cut on April 2 after Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills got into a public spat with President Donald Trump during which the governor declined to comply with Trump’s ban on men in women’s sports.

“The Secretary claimed that she was taking this action because the State of Maine is allegedly violating Title IX of the Civil Rights Law of 1964 by permitting transgender girls and women to participate in girls’ and women’s school sports,” the lawsuit reads. “The Secretary provided no legal basis for her interpretation of Title IX, and her interpretation is wrong. Indeed, several federal courts have held that Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause require schools to permit transgender girls and women to play on girls’ and women’s teams.”

The USDA stated the funding freeze will only apply to “certain administrative and technological functions in schools” and would “not impact federal feeding programs or direct assistance.”

“This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law,” USDA’s letter to Mills reads.