Trump administration officials concluded that Maine violated Title IX for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s school sports after launching an investigation into the state in February.

The notice sent to Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey listed two instances in which biological male students who identify as female were permitted to participate in a girls’ high school athletic event, which violated President Donald Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

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Anthony Archeval, the acting director of the Department of Health and Human Services’s Office for Civil Rights, accused Maine of “denying female student athletes in the State of Maine an equal opportunity to participate in, and obtain the benefits of participation” in school-sponsored athletic activities by allowing biological males to compete with them.

“Male athletes, by comparison, are not subject to heightened safety or competitive concerns, which only affect females,” Archeval wrote. “This lack of equal opportunity and fair competition constitutes a Title IX violation.”

HHS sent the violation notice on Feb. 25, four days after a public spat between Mills and Trump prompted a federal investigation into the state. A spokeswoman for Frey confirmed the notice Thursday.

On Feb. 21, Trump called Mills out for not complying with his executive order during a White House speech to a bipartisan group of governors.

After the president threatened to pull federal funding from the state, Mills responded, “See you in court.”

The violation notice listed more than $500,000 of funding that the Maine Department of Education received from the federal government in 2024 and referred the matter to the U.S. Justice Department. It did not stipulate whether or how much funding would be withheld from the state.

The Maine Principals’ Association, the governing body for youth sports in the state, approved a policy in 2024 permitting “transgender athletes to compete on teams either according to their birth-assigned gender or gender identity.”

MPA executive director Mike Burnham acknowledged that the policy was in conflict with Trump’s executive order but said the organization would leave the policy in place.

“Maine Principal’s Association will continue to follow state law as it pertains to gender identity,” Burnham said in a February statement. 

Mills said Maine will not be intimidated by the Trump administration in a statement last month, assuring that she would fight any efforts to withhold federal funding.

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“If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of federal funding my administration and the attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” Mills said.

The Washington Examiner reached out to HHS and Frey’s office for comment.