A federal judge said the Trump administration must lift the freeze on federal funding to Maine.
The ruling reads that the USDA “must immediately unfreeze and release to the state of Maine any federal funding that they have frozen or failed or refused to pay because of the state of Maine’s alleged failure to comply with the requirements of Title IX.”
The administration is also “barred from freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine’s future federal funding for alleged violations of Title IX without complying with the legally required procedure.”
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President Donald Trump and Maine Gov. Janet Mills clashed Friday at the White House over executive order compliance. (Pool via AP/Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The USDA announced the funding freeze and a review of federal funding to Maine earlier this month after the state refused to provide equal opportunities to women and girls in educational programs.
The state has refused to comply with President Donald Trump’s February executive order to ban trans athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, prompting immense federal pressure. Trump initially vowed to cut federal funding to the state if it were to refuse to comply with the order during a Feb. 20 speech.
Maine officials filed a lawsuit against the USDA on Monday following the agency’s decision to freeze funding to the state.
The state accused the USDA of “withholding funding used to feed children in schools, childcare centers, and after-school programming as well as disabled adults in congregate settings,” an argument the judge agreed with.
The judge noted that the freeze was due to Title IX violations, but it restricted the ability to “provid[e] meals to children and vulnerable adults.”
Gov. Janet Mills speaks during a news conference in the aftermath of a mass shooting, in Lewiston, Maine, Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Sen. Susan Collins, R-ME, recently called for the issues between the administration and her state to be “resolved,” saying that she would continue to fight for federal funding for the state while also being against transgender athletes in biological female sports.
The Department of Education also launched an investigation into the state due to the issue.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) referred the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) to the Department of Justice on Friday for continuning to allow trans athletes to compete in girls sports.
It is the second DOJ referral the state’s educational institutions have faced in the last month over the issue, after the Department of Health and Human Services referred MDOE, the Maine Principals’ Association and Greely High School on March 28.
After Trump signed an executive order to ban trans athletes from women’s and girls’ sports on February 5, Maine was one of the many states that openly defied the order. The state’s divide on trans inclusion was then brought to light when Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby identified in a social media post a trans athlete who had won a girls pole vault competition for Greely High School that month.
Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills challenges U.S. President Donald Trump over trans women in sports as Trump addresses a meeting of governors at the White House on February 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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Libby was censured by Maine’s Democratic majority and Speaker Ryan Fecteau for the post, which has prevented her from carrying out other legislative actions to serve her constituents.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson and Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.
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