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Maine launched a high-stakes legal fight on Monday, suing the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) over its decision to withhold education-related funding in response to the state’s refusal to ban transgender women from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. The abrupt funding freeze, which directly impacts school meal programmes for low-income children, marks an escalation in the clash between Governor Janet Mills and President Donald Trump’s administration.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Bangor, accuses the USDA of unlawfully using financial pressure to force the state into compliance with a controversial federal directive.
From a defiant exchange to a courtroom confrontation
Tensions between the state and the White House have been simmering since a February 21 meeting of US governors. During the gathering, Trump warned Maine that federal funding would be at risk if it failed to comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from competing in female sports categories.
Governor Mills, standing firm, responded as reported by Reuters: “We’re going to follow the law, sir. We’ll see you in court.” That moment of defiance has now transformed into a full-blown legal standoff.
USDA halts funds used to support children’s meals
In a letter sent last week, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins informed the Mills administration that the USDA was freezing a portion of federal funding used to reimburse schools, after-school programmes, and childcare centers for meals provided to children in need. These funds are essential to programmes that combat hunger and support students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Rollins described the freeze as “only the beginning,” stating that the action would remain in place unless Maine amended its stance to “protect women and girls in compliance with federal law.”
Attorney general calls federal action unconstitutional
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey strongly condemned the USDA’s move, characterizing it as politically motivated and legally indefensible. The lawsuit asserts that the USDA acted without following the required legal procedures and violated both federal law and constitutional limits on executive power.
“The president and his cabinet secretaries do not make the law, and they are not above the law,” Frey said, as reported by Reuters. “This action is necessary to remind the president that Maine will not be bullied into violating the law.”
Frey’s office is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the USDA from enforcing the funding freeze while the case is litigated.
Title IX at the center of the legal storm
The dispute hinges on differing interpretations of Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education. The Trump administration argues that allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports violates Title IX protections.
Maine disagrees. In 2021, the state passed legislation that explicitly bars discrimination on the basis of gender identity, aligning itself with a broader movement in several states to expand civil rights protections for transgender individuals.
The lawsuit could determine not just the outcome in Maine, but also shape how Title IX is enforced nationwide when gender identity and sex-based protections intersect.
Vulnerable children become unintended victims
Critics of the funding freeze warn that children are being placed at risk over a political dispute that should be resolved through courts, not through the disruption of vital social services. The affected USDA funds help support school meals and nutrition programmes for thousands of Maine children.
Federal pressure meets state resistance in test of power
As the lawsuit unfolds, the broader stakes come into focus. Can a federal agency withhold funding to force a state to change its laws? Who defines fairness in sports when legal definitions of gender diverge? And where does executive authority end when civil rights and state sovereignty are at stake?
Maine’s refusal to yield has now triggered one of the most consequential legal confrontations of the year—a test of constitutional limits, civil rights law, and the boundaries of federal coercion in America’s ongoing cultural and political wars.
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