A federal investigation of Maine’s refusal to comply with Title IX is underway after Maine’s governor told President Donald Trump the state would continue rejecting his executive order on keeping men out of women’s sports.
At a Friday meeting with governors at the White House, Trump and Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills clashed, according to a video posted on X.
Trump was speaking about his order to ban men from women’s school sports when he called out, “Is Maine here, the governor of Maine?”
After Mills responded, Trump asked, “Are you not going to comply with it?”
“You better do it — because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t.” —47 https://t.co/PCYNzzjlUD pic.twitter.com/lCC8HCQnNP
— GEORGE NEWS (@TheGeorgeHQ) February 21, 2025
“We’ll comply with state and federal law,” Mills replied.
“Well, we are the federal law. You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t,” Trump said.
“And by the way, your population, even though it’s somewhat liberal, although I did very well there, your population doesn’t want men playing in women’s sports. So you better you’d better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any federal funding,” Trump said.
“We’ll see you in court,” Mills replied.
“Good! I’ll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a really easy one,” Trump said. “And enjoy your life after governor because I don’t think you’ll be in elected politics.”
Her defiance came shortly before the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced an investigation of the Maine Department of Education, according to a news release from the federal agency.
The release said the Office for Civil Rights has received allegations that Maine “continues to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ interscholastic athletics and that it has denied female athletes female-only intimate facilities, thereby violating federal antidiscrimination law.”
The agency specified that Greely High School “is continuing to allow at least one male student to compete in girls’ categories.”
“Maine would have you believe that it has no choice in how it treats women and girls in athletics—that is, that it must follow its state laws and allow male athletes to compete against women and girls,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said.
“Let me be clear: If Maine wants to continue to receive federal funds from the Education Department, it has to follow Title IX. If it wants to forgo federal funds and continue to trample the rights of its young female athletes, that, too, is its choice,” he said.
“OCR will do everything in its power to ensure taxpayers are not funding blatant civil rights violators,” he said, noting that the penalty is contained in Trump’s executive order.
“State laws do not override federal antidiscrimination laws, and the MDOE and its schools remain subject to Title IX and its implementing regulations,” the release said.
Trump said on Thursday that he would not back down.
“They are still saying, ‘We want men to play in women’s sports,’ and I cannot believe that they’re doing that,” the commander-in-chief said, according to Fox News.
“So, we’re not going to give them any federal funding, none whatsoever, until they clean that up,” Trump vowed.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.