The standoff between the Trump administration and California continues unabated. The federal government has decided to sue the state over its laws allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s school sports.
In its complaint, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the Department of Justice alleges that the California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), an independent, non-profit sports governing body, have violated Title IX, a civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded educational programs and activities.
“The Governor of California has previously admitted that it is ‘deeply unfair’ to force women and girls to compete with men and boys in competitive sports,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement, referring to a comment Gov. Gavin Newsom made during a podcast in March. “But not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law. This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.”
The lawsuit comes just weeks after the Department of Education announced that it had found California to be in violation of the law by allowing transgender girls to compete on women’s sports teams and proposed that the state revoke the records and awards of transgender athletes and bar them from competing in women’s sports.
California has allowed transgender girls to compete in women’s sports for more than a decade, a policy that attracted little attention until Republicans and anti-LGBTQ+ groups targeted the community in recent years.
California’s policies attracted national attention earlier this year when a transgender girl competing in the state track and field championships won the high jump and triple jump and came second in the long jump, an incident cited in the Justice Department’s complaint. The athlete, 16-year-old AB Hernandez, was subsequently targeted by the president himself, who said her participation was “humiliating” to women.
The lawsuit filed by the administration cites five alleged cases in which transgender youth participated in girls’ school sports events. The federal government is now seeking a court order prohibiting any school belonging to the California Interscholastic Federation from allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports competitions, and establishing a procedure to compensate athletes who have been harmed by the state’s policy.
“At a time when the Trump administration is withholding billions in funds for education, this ongoing attack is a cynical attempt to distract from the Trump administration’s defunding of nearly 3 million girls enrolled in California’s public school”, said Elana Ross, spokesperson for Governor Newsom, who is widely thoought to be considering a run for the presidency in 2028.
On Wednesday, from a stage in South Carolina, Newsomharshly attacked the federal government, stating: “What we’re experiencing is America in reverse. They’re trying to bring us back to a pre-1960s world on voting rights — you know it well. Civil rights, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights and not just access to abortion, but also access to simple reproductive care, contraception… It’s a moment that few of us could have imagined.”
