Maine State Attorney General Aaron Frey filed an 11-page response on Thursday to the civil action the U.S. Department of Justice filed against the state three weeks ago with the U.S. District Court in Portland.
In this filing, AG Frey denies that Maine’s policy allowing trans-identifying males to participate in female school sports is out of compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, as the Justice Department’s suit claims, and asks the court to dismiss the federal complaint.
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“The Department (of Education, of the State of Maine, which is named as the defendant in the federal complaint) admits that on January 20, 2025, the President issued Executive
Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and on February 5, 2025, the President issued Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” and further states that those two documents speak for themselves,” Frey states in the filing, in reference the to federal government’s current policy.
“The Department denies that the Executive Orders are “[c]onsistent with ‘sex’ meaning biological sex in Title IX,” or that they “confirmed the definition of the term ‘sex’ for Title IX” and otherwise denies each and every other allegation in Paragraph 23,” Maine’s response goes on the assert.
In other words, Maine’s response is challenging the legal basis of President Donald Trump’s executive orders as well as the charge that its Department of Education is discriminating against girls by allowing trans-identifying boys to compete on their athletic teams.
Both the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found Maine to be violating Title IX by allowing biological males to participate in female sports in March. When Maine told the federal agencies they could essentially go pound sand, they each referred the matter to the Justice Department.
These actions find their origin in the dispute between Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) and President Donald Trump (R) who publicly feuded on February 21, with Mills telling Trump “We’ll see you in court.”
Meanwhile, the federal district court has set a trial date for December 3 of this year.
