U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is threatening Minnesota officials with legal action if they don’t comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes in women’s sports.
In a Tuesday letter to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Minnesota State High School League Executive Director Erich Martens, Bondi said the state should be “on notice” that the U.S. Justice Department is ready to take action. Officials in California and Maine also received a warning letter.
The Trump Administration asserts that allowing people born male who identify as women to participate in women’s school sports violates Title IX, a federal law banning sex discrimination in education.
The president’s Feb. 5 executive order allows federal agencies to enforce the administration’s interpretation of Title IX, though some states and high school sports groups have said they would not comply.
“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi said in a statement. “We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s executive order protecting women’s sports.”
Bondi noted that the Department of Justice has already sued other states for defying federal orders. Earlier in February, they sued Illinois and New York, accusing the states of defying federal immigration policy.
On Feb. 12 the U.S. Department of Education started investigating Minnesota and California high school sports organizations because they planned to go against the federal government’s new policy.
Attorney General of Minnesota Keith Ellison. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Earlier this month the Minnesota State High School League, the governing body for state school athletics, said following the order likely would violate the state Human Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the state Constitution, which includes protections for different sexual orientations and gender identities. Though the group said it would cooperate with the Title IX investigation.
The league sought advice from Ellison, who later issued an opinion supporting their stance. In a Wednesday statement he maintained that Bondi and Trump are “wrong on the law” and said he was ready to defend the state against federal challenges.
“I think it’s morally wrong to persecute a small minority group, transgender youth, with the full weight (of) the U.S. Department of Justice just to express prejudice against a vulnerable and often persecuted group of students,” he said in a statement. “I do not believe the best use of the Department of Justice’s limited resources is to sue Minnesota over this.”
Athletic associations have 60 days from the executive order to take action on transgender athletes, according to the Minnesota State High School League, which has said it’s rules allowing transgender student participation currently remain in place.
The Minnesota Legislature is currently considering a bill to ban transgender athletes in school sports. The measure backed by Rep. Peggy Scott, R-Andover, has been receiving committee hearings in the House, where Republicans currently have a one-seat majority but not enough votes to pass bills.
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