AG Bondi warns Minnesota to comply with anti-trans athlete policy or face legal consequences
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi sent letters to state officials in Minnesota, California and Maine warning each to comply with the federal executive order that prohibits trans athletes from competing in women’s sports or face legal repercussions, saying that “Minnesota should be on notice.”
“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” said Bondi. “We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s executive order protecting women’s sports.”
The order is based on a person’s sex assigned at birth and says that only biological women can participate in women’s sports, thus barring trans athletes who were not assigned female at birth.
However, the Minnesota Human Rights Act is an anti-discrimination law that protects various groups of people, including transgender athletes in school.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) have already said they would follow the state law and not the federal one.
“I believe Attorney General Bondi and President Trump are wrong on the law, and I’m prepared to defend and uphold the law. But more than unlawful, I think it’s morally wrong to persecute a small minority group, transgender youth, with the full weight of the U.S. Department of Justice just to express prejudice against a vulnerable and often persecuted group of students. I do not believe the best use of the Department of Justice’s limited resources is to sue Minnesota over this,” said Ellison in response to Bondi’s letter.
RELATED: Ellison: Keeping trans girls from competing in sports would violate Minnesota law
At the end of the letter, Bondi mentions the possibility of Minnesota losing federal funding or being sued by the Department of Justice for not complying with federal law.
The Trump administration has already said they were looking into the MSHSL for abiding by the Minnesota law and continuing to allow athletes to participate according to their gender identity.
The other two states Bondi sent letters to, California and Maine, also are not complying with the federal law. Along with the MSHSL, California’s interscholastic athletic organization is being investigated for not complying. The state has a law that allows students to participate based on their gender identity.
President Trump and the governor of Maine recently exchanged heated words on the issue at the White House.
RELATED: Trump spars with Maine’s governor at the White House over transgender athletes