Attorney General Pam Bondi sent letters to officials in three states, warning them to comply with President Trump’s executive order to prevent biological males from competing in women’s sports.

Bondi sent the warning letters to California, Maine, and Minnesota.

“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi said in a statement, according to POLITICO.

“We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President [Donald] Trump’s executive order,” she added.

From POLITICO:

The letters follow Trump’s executive order signed earlier this month that barred transgender people from competing in women’s sports. The Education Department has also advised education institutions that it will enforce Title IX, the federal education law that prohibits sex-based discrimination, on the basis of biological sex.

ADVERTISEMENT

Since then, the Education Department has launched several investigations into transgender sports participation policies, including in California, Maine and Minnesota, which have laws or policies that recognize gender identity. The probe into Maine’s policy was initiated Friday after Trump’s public spat with Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, over the state’s policy at a meeting of governors at the White House.

“Where federal and state law conflict, states and state entities must follow federal law — not because we live in a dictatorship but because the Constitution requires states to follow the supreme law of the land,” Bondi wrote on Tuesday in a letter to Mills. The other two letters had similar language — and threatened to sue if they don’t comply.

A closer look:

Image

Image

* Images from The Maine Wire *

Fox News reports:

President Donald Trump recently directed the DOJ and the Education Department to prioritize enforcement actions against athletic associations that deny girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys.

Bondi said, though, state athletic associations, including in California, Maine and Minnesota, “have issued defiant statements saying that they would continue requiring girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events.”

In Minnesota, Bondi said Attorney General Keith Ellison “issued a legal opinion asserting that the Minnesota State High School League would be violating state law unless it continues this demeaning, unfair, and dangerous practice.”

In California, Bondi said the state “should be on notice,” amid the Department of Education’s Title IX investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation.

“If the Department of Education’s investigation shows that the Federation is indeed denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys, the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law,” Bondi wrote.

Bondi also said “Maine should be on notice,” amid the Department of Education’s Title IX investigation into the Maine Department of Education.

ADVERTISEMENT
 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.