The Trump administration and Minnesota are clashing again, this time over whether boys can play girls’ high school sports.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit that alleges the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League engaged in sex-based discrimination by requiring girls to compete against boys in high school athletic competitions.
If true, it would be a violation of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity.
“The Trump administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,” Bondi said in a public statement. The Justice Department, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services are plaintiffs in the case.
The lawsuit alleges that Minnesota’s policies create unfair competition, deny girls equal athletic opportunities, and expose girls to heightened risks of physical injury and psychological harm.
The Minnesota Department of Education gets more than $3 billion in federal funding from HHS and the U.S. Education Department, according to the Justice Department. The administration contends that as a condition of receiving this federal funding, the state’s education department agreed to ensure local schools comply with Title IX.
The federal complaint comes almost one year after Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the Trump administration for “targeting trans kids.”
“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 said on Monday in an email statement in response to an inquiry from The Daily Signal.
“In April of last year, I sued the Trump administration to stop them from targeting trans kids who just want to play on their school team,” Ellison continued.
“This new suit is just a sad attempt to get attention over something that’s already been in litigation for months. I will continue to stand up to the Trump administration and do everything in my power to stop them from bullying vulnerable children in Minnesota.”
The Trump administration says that the state and local schools have ceded responsibility for the scholastic sports governing body known as the Minnesota State High School League, which has more than 500 member schools.
The two defendants, the state’s education department and the high school league, did not respond to inquiries for this story by publication time.
“The Trump administration will always fight for the safety and civil rights of women and girls,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a public statement. “Minnesota’s policies allow men to dominate women’s sports, denying female athletes fair competition and eroding their right to equal access in educational programs and activities.”
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued there shouldn’t be ambiguity in the case.
“We will not allow girls to be denied equal opportunity and basic privacy,” said Kennedy. “Title IX is clear: Schools that accept federal funding must protect the rights, safety, and dignity of female students.”
Minnesota and the Trump administration are facing off on several other legal fronts.
The Trump administration has sued Minnesota over policies promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. The Justice Department is also investigating a massive welfare fraud scandal in the state.
Minnesota has sued the Trump administration to block federal immigration enforcement. It also sued to obtain more information about the fatal shootings of two Minneapolis protesters by immigration enforcement agents.
“[President] Donald Trump is currently facing an unpopular war that he launched, rising gas prices, massive health insurance price hikes, and a partial government shutdown caused in part by his [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents killing two Minnesotans in broad daylight,” Ellison said.
