U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday warned Minnesota, California, and Maine that they need to comply with federal law to keep “men out of women’s sports,” according to a statement issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Trump and Mills, a Democrat, were involved in a verbal altercation on Feb. 20 while the president was meeting with governors. The president told Mills that she needed to comply with the executive order or he would withhold education funding to her state.
“We are the federal law,” Trump told her at one point. “You‘d better do it. You’d better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.”
“See you in court,” Mills said in response, according to a video recording of the exchange between the two.
Trump then told her: “Good, I'll see you in court.”
In a statement on Feb. 21, Mills said that she and the state of Maine won’t “be intimidated” by Trump’s warning that federal education funding could be withheld.
“If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” she said.
“The Executive Order does not have the force of law and therefore does not preempt any aspect of Minnesota law. Complying with the Executive Order and prohibiting students from participation in extracurricular activities consistent with their gender identity would violate” state law, the letter said.
“It is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities, which results in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of women and girls and deprives them of privacy,” his order said. “It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth.”
During his 2024 campaign, Trump often said that he would move to end allowing transgender individuals from competing in women’s sports.
Aside from the order on women’s sports, Trump also signed several orders to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government.
One order declares that the federal government would recognize only two immutable sexes: male and female. The definition will be based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes. The change is being pitched as a way to protect women from what the administration has called gender extremism.
