The Trump administration has initiated legal action against Minnesota and its school athletics governing body, making good on a prior threat to penalize the state for permitting transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports.
This lawsuit is part of a wider national debate concerning the rights of transgender youth.
Across the country, more than two dozen states have enacted laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in specific sports, with some also banning gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Several of these policies have faced judicial blocks.
Filed on Monday, the Justice Department’s complaint alleges that the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a federal statute that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs receiving federal funds.
Attorney General Pam Bondi stated, "The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field."
In response, Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison dismissed the lawsuit as "a sad attempt to get attention" regarding an issue already subject to months of litigation, vowing to continue the fight.
"It is astonishing that any president would try to target, shame, and harass children just trying to be themselves, let alone a president with so many actual problems to address," Ellison remarked.
Officials from the league did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The administration has pursued similar legal challenges against Maine and California, and has threatened to withhold federal funding from several universities over transgender athlete policies, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania.
Minnesota officials have consistently resisted federal pressure to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports. Last April, Ellison filed a preemptive lawsuit, arguing that Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last year.
That lawsuit also asserts the state’s compliance with Title IX, and a ruling is pending on the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case.
The Justice Department’s statement claims Minnesota violates Title IX "by requiring girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions that are designated exclusively for girls and allowing boys to invade intimate spaces designated exclusively for girls, such as multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms."
To bolster its claims of an unfair advantage for transgender athletes, the lawsuit highlights the case of a transgender pitcher on the Champlin Park High School girls varsity fastpitch softball team, who helped lead the school to a 6-0 victory in a 2025 state championship game.
The Trump administration also overturned the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which had held that its provisions prohibiting discrimination based on sex also extended to gender identity.
According to the Justice Department, Minnesota’s Department of Education receives over \$3 billion annually in federal funding from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, with this funding contingent on Title IX compliance.
The lawsuit seeks a federal court declaration that Minnesota is in violation of Title IX and an order to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.
The civil rights offices at the Education and Health and Human Services departments had notified the state and league last September that they faced legal action if they did not cease violating federal law.
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