Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi over the administration’s threat to withhold federal funding due to the state refusing to bar male athletes from women’s and girls’ sports.
Trump signed an executive order to protect women’s and girls’ sports on February 4.
On Tuesday, Bondi sent out a letter warning states that were not in compliance that they were at risk of losing funding.
“This Department of Justice will hold accountable states and state entities that violate federal law,” Bondi wrote Tuesday in letters addressed to Maine Gov. Janet Mills, California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Ron Nocetti, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and Erich Martens, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League, according to a report from The Hill.
She continued, “The Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law.”
“I hope that it does not come to this. The Department of Justice does not want to have to sue states or state entities, or to seek termination of their federal funds. We only want states and state entities to comply with the law. And federal law requires giving girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by ensuring that girls need to compete only with other girls, not with boys.”
Ellison responded to the letter by filing the lawsuit and accusing the administration of “bullying.”
“I’m not going to sit around waiting for the Trump administration to sue Minnesota,” Ellison said during a press conference on Tuesday. “Today, Minnesota is suing him and his administration because we will not participate in this shameful bullying.”
Minnesota state Rep. Leigh Finke, who is a “transgender” biological male, also spoke at the press conference. He argued that protecting girls’ sports is “cruelty” and “bigotry.”
“Here, we do not bend to cruelty,” Finke said. “We do not bow to bullying or bigotry. We lead with love and follow the law. We will continue to build a state that honors and affirms the lives of all. We will continue to build a state that honors and affirms the lives of all. We have chosen love, we have chosen justice, and we continue to choose freedom, now and always.”
The extremely far-left attorney general infamously shared a photo of himself holding the Antifa Anti-Fascist Handbook in 2018, claiming that it would “strike fear” into President Trump.
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