A federal judge said the Trump administration must lift their freeze on federal funding to Maine.
The ruling reads that the USDA “must immediately unfreeze and release to the state of Maine any federal funding that they have frozen or failed or refused to pay because of the state of Maine’s alleged failure to comply with the requirements of Title IX.”
The administration is also “barred from freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine’s future federal funding for alleged violations of Title IX without complying with the legally required procedure.”
The USDA announced the funding freeze and a review of federal funding to Maine earlier this month after the state refused to provide equal opportunities to women and girls in educational programs.
The state has refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s February executive order to ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, prompting immense federal pressure. Trump initially vowed to cut federal funding to the state if it refused to comply with the order during a Feb. 20 speech.
Maine officials filed a lawsuit against the USDA on Monday following the agency’s decision to freeze funding to the state.
The state accused the USDA of “withholding funding used to feed children in schools, childcare centers, and after-school programming as well as disabled adults in congregate settings,” an argument the judge agreed with.
The judge noted that the freeze was due to Title IX violations, but it “restricted” the ability to “provid[e] meals to children and vulnerable adults.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, recently called for the issues between the administration and her state to be “resolved,” saying that she would continue to fight for federal funding for the state while also being against transgender athletes in biological female sports.
The Department of Education also launched an investigation into the state due to the issue.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) referred the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) to the Department of Justice Friday for continuning to allow trans athletes to compete in girls sports.
It’s the second DOJ referral the state’s educational institutions have faced in the last month over the issue, after the Department of Health and Human Services referred MDOE, the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School March 28.
After Trump signed an executive order to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports Feb. 5, Maine was one of the many states that openly defied the order. The state’s divide on trans inclusion was then brought to light when Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby identified a trans athlete in a social media post who won a girls pole vault competition for Greely High School that month.
Libby was censured by Maine’s Democratic majority and Speaker Ryan Fecteau for the post, which has prevented her from carrying out other legislative actions to serve her constituents.
