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Gov. Janet Mills and Maine still battling for one trans athlete [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-10
When Donald Trump threatened to cut off federal funds to Maine because they were still following federal and state laws that said that trans athletes could compete, Gov. Janet Mills said, "I'll see you in court!"
Rather than wait for any court case, the Trump administration started administering punishment immediately. First was an investigation by the Department of Education into DEI practices. And, of course, them letting trans athletes compete in violation of Trump's Executive Order.
Most of what follows is from a running log by the Maine Morning Star.
The same day as the Department of Education investigation, the Department of Health and Human Services started one also by their civil rights division. Same basis as the Department of Education's investigation, Title IX.
On Feb. 22nd, the Department of Agriculture also said they were doing a Title IX investigation. The University of Maine System receives money from the agency's Agriculture Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which in recent years totaled up to $100 million.
The Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice of violation to Maine on February 25th for violating Title IX. The investigation only lasted 4 days and included no interviews, data requests, or negotiations. The Maine Attorney General's office was notified by an email of the letter. The letter also stated that the case was being turned over to the Department of Justice. Maine received over $700,000 from HHS in 2024.
A letter to Governor Mills from Attorney general Pam Bondi also was sent on February 25th. Bondi stated quite bluntly that it was about allowing trans athletes in women's sports. And that that was a violation of Title IX.
The University of Maine was notified on February 28th by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that they were defunding the four and a half million dollar Marine Sea Grant. Estimates were that for every dollar spent by the grant, $15 in activity was generated in the state.
Originally thought to be retaliation, then thought to be a mistake, then proved by emails not to be a mistake was detailed by The Huffington Post on April 2nd. The Social Security Administration had canceled contracts that allowed new births to be detailed and assigned Social Security numbers, as well as deaths, electronically. Representative Gerry Connolly informed Leland Dudek, the acting administrator of the social security system, that the canceling of contracts "would result in improper payments and potential for identity theft."
According to the emails, Dudek told his staff to continue with the contract canceling.
"Please cancel the contracts. While our improper payments will go up, and fraudsters may compromise identities, no money will go from the public trust to this petulant child." Referring to Governor Mills.
Connelly called for Dudek to resign, but that didn't happen. The White House backed him up with the tired old story about men in women sports. But, there was enough pressure from many directions and the contracts were finally reinstated.
On March 10th, the US Department of Agriculture was at it again with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer of the USDA notifying the Maine University system that funding was temporarily paused. That would continue until it determined whether there should be any follow-up to the Title IX investigation with additional Title VI violations. Last fiscal year the USDA awarded $29.78 million to the University of Maine for agricultural research.
The thing is, the universities in Maine are part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association which has set standards, after Donald Trump threatened them, that ban trans in women's sports. This is simply all happening because of one high school trans pole vaulter who was participating.
Two days later Senator Susan Collins said that the funding was being restored after having talked to Trump.
March 17th, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights determined that Maine Principals' Association and Greeley High School were in violation of Title IX. They were given 10 days to either sign an agreement or face prosecution by the Department of Justice.
On March 17th, the USDA determined that the Maine University System was in compliance with Title IX because it was following the NCAA rules.
March 20th, the US Department of Education notified the Maine Department of Education that it was in violation of Title IX. They were given 10 days to comply with Donald Trump's executive order banning trans in women's sports. Maine follows their own Human Rights Act which was amended in 2021 to include gender identity as a protected class against discrimination. It doesn't specifically spell out trans, but the Trump Administration is claiming that it violates the ban of men and women sports.
On March 22nd, Trump posted on Truth Social his demand that Governor Mills give him a "full throated apology," which she did not do, essentially telling him to go to hell.
But, two days later she did respond. "I do not communicate with public officials by tweet or Instagram or social media. Second, all of my issues are about the rule of law, pure and simple. It's not about transgender sports, it is about who makes the laws and who enforces laws. I read the Constitution. Constitution says the president, the chief executive, shall take care that the law is faithfully executed. It does not allow him to make laws out of whole cloth by tweet or Instagram post or press release or executive order, that is the fundamental law and I stand for the rule of law and the separation of powers."
That would have been enough, but she wasn't done. "If the current president wants to protect women and girls, he should start by protecting the women and teenage girls that are suffering miscarriages, and dying because they can't get basic, life-saving healthcare in states across the country."
Ouch! Got him good with that one. Maine is expected to follow through with litigation against the US Department of Education.
March 28th, the US Department of Education took another course of action. By following the Maine Human Rights Act they could be violating the Family Education Privacy Rights Act. Here's information on it at Wikipedia. It's a stretch of the imagination to think that this would apply. The only thing that would seem to be possible is they're talking about children not telling their parents that they're trans, but the school knows. That's the only thing I can figure.
On April 1st, the US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights gave the Maine Department of Education a final notice. If the state did not sign an agreement acceptable to the Department of Education by April 11th, they would be referred to the Department of Justice.
USDA secretary Brooke Rollins wrote to Governor Mills on April 2nd, that, "You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated. Today, I am freezing federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools. This is only the beginning."
It's not just that they're doing it. It's how they're doing it and saying it. They're so snarky and high and mighty. Almost makes one want to get violent.
April 2nd again, Representative Chellie Pingree demanded that acting Commissioner for Social Security Ludek resign immediately after the emails detailing his actions were made public.
The Maine Attorney General sued the USDA and Secretary Brooke Rollins for cutting funds that went for school lunches on April 7th. It was also for feeding children in child care centers and adults with disabilities.
April 8th the Maine Department of Corrections was notified by the Department of Justice was terminating grants for several programs. This was after Pam Bondi was on Fox and Friends and said that the cut was because of a transgender woman who was incarcerated in a woman's prison. The Department of Justice gave a whole different lying answer. That the program's goals didn't fit with Department of Justice policies.
Now in an April 10th article, it appears that Maine legislators are trying to get rid of all the attacks on Maine by capitulating with two bills in the state legislature. LD 233 is titled "An Act to Prohibit Biological Males from Participating in School Athletic Programs and Activities Designed For Females When State Funding Is Provided to the School."
Even worse, but will make Republicans so proud if it were to pass, is LD 868, titled "An Act to Ensure Equity and Safety in Athletics, Restrooms, Changing Rooms and Housing at Elementary, Secondary and Postseconday Schools."
A Maine Freedom of Access Act request uncovered that the Maine Attorney General had communicated these two bills in response to the US HHS investigation of Title IX violations in the middle of March.
HHS wrote back that the investigation would continue, but would like to know if the bills became law.
State Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart said in a press conference on April 1, "This is not sustainable. We are a poor state. We are heavily reliant on federal money. The governor needs to move on this."
Democrats hold the Senate and the House, as well as the Governorship in Maine. The bills will not pass without Democratic support.
The Maine Attorney General argued to HHS that the state was not responsible for the Maine Principals' Association, which governs high school athletics. It's a private, non-profit corporation, not a state agency, and argued that as a result, the Maine Department of Education could not be in violation of Title IX.
HHS fired back with, "The fact that MDOE has ceded control over its activities to MPA does not limit its obligations under Title IX."
Another Republican legislator is introducing a bill to remove consideration of gender identity from the two bills, but that makes little sense since the whole point of the bills are to ban trans from everywhere. If this were done, HHS and other federal agencies involved in this coordinated attack would simply point that out and still say the Title IX violations were still occurring because of it.
Trump and his administration are. spending an inordinate amount of time and effort, and money, going after Maine for one, one trans student participating in girl's sports.
Trump himself has a personal ax to grind because of Gov. Mills defiance. She's the only public official to have stood up to him in person and said "no." Trump made threats of withdrawing federal funds, and he did that, but not successfully. Maine is fighting back in the courts. Their Senators and Representatives are raising a ruckus.
Trump did not get his "full-throated apology," and he never will.
This one is a battle of will and wits, and Trump only has half of the latter. Federal government agencies are weaponized against Maine's refusal to bow to Trump.
There is a federal lawsuit against Trump's executive order. Two trans teens in New Hampshire have taken on the fight. So far it is the only case listed in the now 181 lawsuits listed in the Just Security Litigation Tracker on Trump's executive order.
Maine has filed filed a suit over the USDA freezing funds used to feed kids. Maine's Dept. of Education and the Maine Principals' Association need to file their own federal suits to stop this attack on both state's rights and trans themselves, irregardless of the athlete controversy. Trans athletes are just a ruse by Trump to attack trans' right to exist.
Time to stand up to the bully using federal funds as a weapon. Not just for trans, but for everybody.
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