This article was originally published in Maine Morning Star.
A federal court has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to restore funding to Maine, granting the state’s request for a temporary restraining order.
The ruling marks Maine’s first legal victory against federal sanctions imposed over its policies on transgender athletes — policies the Trump administration argues violate Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education. At issue is Maine’s decision to allow transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports, which the federal government claims is unlawful under its interpretation of Title IX.
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After the USDA froze the funds earlier this month, Attorney General Aaron Frey on Monday filed a complaint in U.S. District Court seeking to reinstate access to the money this Monday. Four days later, Judge John Woodcock Jr. granted the emergency request, finding that Maine had shown it would suffer “irreparable harm” and that the USDA had failed to follow legally required procedures before halting the funding.
In a statement after the ruling, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said the order “confirms the Trump Administration did not follow the rule of law when it cut program funds that go to feed school children and vulnerable adults.”
“No one in our constitutional republic is above the law and we will continue to fight to hold this administration to account,” Frey said.
Unlike other federal agencies that opened civil rights investigations into Maine’s policies, the USDA acted without launching a formal probe. On April 2, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins notified Governor Janet Mills that the department was freezing certain federal funds used for school administrative and technological functions. The move was based solely on the department’s view that Maine was out of compliance with Title IX, according to Rollins’ letter.
The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services had separately found Maine in violation of federal law after short investigations. But the state has pushed back, insisting that its trans-inclusive policies are consistent with both Title IX and legal precedent.
In a letter sent earlier today to Bradley Burke, regional director of the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, Assistant Attorney General Sarah Forster cited court rulings affirming the rights of transgender athletes.
“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,” she wrote. “Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds.”
Judge Woodcock’s ruling does not address the substance of the transgender athlete policy. Instead, it focuses solely on the federal government’s failure to follow due process.
“In ruling on the State’s request, the Court is not weighing in on the merits of the controversy about transgender athletes that forms the backdrop of the impasse between the State and the Federal Defendants,” Woodcock wrote. “The Federal Defendants froze the appropriated funds without observance of procedure required by law.”
Maine Morning Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maine Morning Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Lauren McCauley for questions: info@mainemorningstar.com.
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