Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Justice sued California on Wednesday over its policy allowing transgender students to compete on girls' sports teams, after warning last month that school districts in the state would be "exposed to legal liability" if they followed the policy.
- The practice discriminates against cisgender girls and is "demeaning, signaling to girls that their opportunities and achievements are secondary to accommodating boys," DOJ alleged in the lawsuit filed in federal District Court in California.
- The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to withhold federal funding from states, including California, if they refuse to come into compliance with its Title IX policies. California has $44.3 billion on the line, of which some $3.8 billion was available as of Wednesday for the state to tap into, according to the Justice Department.
Dive Insight:
California is the second state, following Maine, to be sued by the Trump administration's Justice Department after investigations by the U.S. Department of Education into transgender-inclusive policies. The lawsuits were filed under Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs.
The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school sports in the state, in late May adopted a pilot policy allowing both transgender and cisgender girls to bring home the top prize in the same athletic competitions. The CIF changed its policies to allow more girls to compete in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships — and allow both transgender and cisgender girls to win first place.
After the policy was piloted for that competition and transgender athlete AB Hernandez won first place alongside her cisgender peers, the Justice Department warned school districts in a letter that they were “exposed to legal liability” if they followed CIF and California policies allowing transgender student athletes to play on girls' sports teams.
CIF policies impact more than 750,000 student-athletes in grades 9-12, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department in May required California districts to certify they were not following the state's transgender athlete-inclusive policy. However, the state superintendent pushed back against that directive, instead guiding districts to remain in line with the policy.
The state a week later sued the Justice Department "in anticipation of imminent legal retaliation against California’s school systems” following warnings from the department to the state that it was next in line to be potentially cut off from federal funding if it did not follow the Trump administration's interpretation of Title IX.
Threats to cut off federal funds to a state over civil rights compliance — in the past considered an anomaly — have become commonplace under the Trump administration as it has taken on LGBTQ+ policies, and especially transgender athlete issues.
The Justice Department previously made clear in the Maine case that it was pursuing many other states through self-directed investigations, and specifically named California and Minnesota as in its sights. The Maine case is currently pending, with no new developments as of last week, according to the Maine Attorney General's office.
"This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a Wednesday statement.
A California Department of Education spokesperson declined comment, saying the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
But a July 7 letter from the state education department to the U.S. Education Department shows the state had received OCR's letter notifying it that it was in violation of Title IX.
Len Garfinkel, general counsel for CDE, said the state "respectfully disagrees" with the Education Department's analysis and refused to sign a proposed resolution agreement to bring the state in compliance with the Trump administration's Title IX policies.
