UPDATED
The Trump administration on Wednesday sued the state of California for allowing biological males to compete on women’s sports teams, arguing that the stance discriminates against females and is a violation of Title IX, the Justice Department announced.
The move comes two days after the California Department of Education formally rejected a proposed resolution agreement from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights regarding transgender athletes.
“California is on the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of history,” stated U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California in a news release. “Women deserve dignity, respect, and an equal opportunity to compete on their own sports teams. The time for talk is over. California must comply with Title IX and end its civil rights violations against women. No person, no state, is above the law.”
Billions of federal dollars are on the line for the Golden State.
“As alleged in the complaint, the U.S. Department of Education’s ‘current allocation of funds to CDE for fiscal year 2025 totals approximately $44.3 billion, of which approximately $3.8 billion remains available for drawdown by CDE, including both discretionary grants and formula grants,'” the Justice Department stated.
The lawsuit names the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation and defendants.
California’s education department had rejected the Trump administration’s request to stop its transgender athlete policy after an OCR investigation concluded that California violated Title IX by allowing males who identify as female to compete on female high school sports teams, deeming it a violation of female students’ civil rights.
The California Department of Education “respectfully disagrees with OCR’s analysis, and it will not sign the proposed resolution agreement,” wrote Len Garfinkel, general counsel for the California agency, in a July 7 memo to the regional director of the Office for Civil Rights.
The rejection set the stage for a significant legal and political battle between the state and the Trump administration over the rights of transgender athletes and the interpretation of Title IX.
The Trump administration, through Education Secretary Linda McMahon, had threatened “imminent enforcement action,” including the potential withholding of federal funding, and has indicated that Attorney General Pam Bondi will be involved.
“California has just REJECTED our resolution agreement to follow federal law and keep men out of women’s sports. Turns out Gov. Newsom’s acknowledgment that ‘it’s an issue of fairness’ was empty political grandstanding. @CAgovernor, you’ll be hearing from @AGPamBondi,” McMahon posted on X on Monday.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the controversy began when the Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation in February into the California Interscholastic Federation, or CIF, which oversees high school sports in the Golden State.
“That investigation was later expanded to include the California Department of Education and local school districts. In late June, the Trump administration called on California to ‘voluntarily agree’ to change what it determined are ‘unlawful practices’ within 10 days,” the Times reported.
“Under the proposed resolution agreement, California would have to notify all recipients of federal funding that operate interscholastic athletic programs that they must comply with the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX.”
CIF officials also rejected the proposed resolution from the feds, Fox News reported.
California officials and LGBTQ+ rights advocates say they strongly disagree with the federal interpretation of Title IX and are prepared to defend their current policies.
But some California conservatives were quick to denounce the decision by state officials.
“California’s so-called ‘leaders’ are refusing to ban boys from playing in girls sports. These people lack common sense and must be thrown out of office for putting our girls (and our schools’ federal funding) at risk. These ideologues must go,” posted Chad Bianco, a Riverside County sheriff running for governor, on social media.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, an outspoken California Republican, posted on X on Monday criticizing the decision.
“Unbelievable. California is refusing to change its policy of forcing girls to compete against biological males. The Education Department says it ‘disagrees’ with the federal civil rights laws. This reckless and illegal decision puts our state’s federal funding at risk,” he wrote.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to reflect the lawsuit filed Wednesday against California.
MORE: UPenn to ban men from women’s sports — and apologize — to resolve federal Title IX violation
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: President Trump and Riley Gaines at CPAC / YouTube screenshot