On February 5th, President Donald Trump reversed a horrible Executive Order by his predecessor, Joe Biden, which gutted Title IX to allow biological men to play in women's sports.
In his executive order, Trump restored the 1972 Title IX law back to its original intent, protection of men's and women's sports, creating an environment where male athletes can compete fairly and equitably against male athletes, and women can compete just as fairly and just as equitably against women athletes.
A week later, two transgender high schoolers in New Hampshire filed a suit against the Trump administration, claiming that barring them from competing in women's sports violates their Constitutional rights and Title IX itself. The only way Title IX could be construed as being violated is to use the revised definition of what a woman is, which is what Joe Biden's executive order did. Trump struck that definition down along with Biden's entire E.O.
The subject is an 80/20 issue with the country, and among all of the President's executive orders, this one was one of the least controversial. Leave it to Maine Governor Janet Mills to not only fight on this hill, but begin the legal process of dying on it.
Thursday night, Donald Trump spoke to the Republican Governors Association in Washington, and left no doubt where he stood.
A day later at the White House, all of the nation's executives were invited to a meeting with President Trump. The aforementioned Governor Mills was in attendance, and was called out directly by Trump on whether she would comply with his order or not.
This is Mills sitting at her table after Trump just called her out.
Maine Governor Janet Mills decided that women's sports was the hill she wanted to die on. She refused to comply with Trumps EO and told him she would see him in court.
— Sassafrass84 (@Sassafrass_84) February 22, 2025
Several hours later, the Office of Civil Rights announced they were investigating Maine for Title IX… pic.twitter.com/G8cPARuZpF
Within seven hours, the finding out part of Gov. Mills' F.A. day was fully underway as both the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Education, and the Department of Agriculture began Title IX violation investigations, jeopardizing upwards of $280 million dollars of educational money going to Maine from Washington, D.C. Governor Mills is risking a quarter of a billion dollars to fight for an issue that exactly no one believes will be decided in her favor if it makes it all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
Over the weekend, Gov. Mills did release a statement after the federal investigations began.
“I have spent my career – as a District Attorney, as Attorney General, and now as Governor – standing up for the rule of law in Maine and America. To me, that is fundamentally what is at stake here: the rule of law in our country.
“No President – Republican or Democrat – can withhold Federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will. It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.
“Maine may be one of the first states to undergo an investigation by his Administration, but we won’t be the last. Today, the President of the United States has targeted one particular group on one particular issue which Maine law has addressed. But you must ask yourself: who and what will he target next, and what will he do? Will it be you? Will it be because of your race or your religion? Will it be because you look different or think differently? Where does it end? In America, the President is neither a King nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it – and it is the rule of law that prevents him from being so.
“I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined. My Administration will begin work with the Attorney General to defend the interests of Maine people in the court of law. But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”
There is someone in Maine politics that may have brought this issue of Maine flaunting Trump's EO to the attention of the White House. Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby, a Republican, has been very vocal in a campaign to shed light on the unfairness of Gov. Mills' policy of allowing men to play in women's sports. Just this past week, she highlighted the example of a pole vaulter at Greely High in Cumberland, Maine.
🚨 Another day, another instance of an unremarkable biological male athlete (who couldn't win against other males) dominating girls' sports.
— Rep. Laurel Libby (@laurel_libby) February 18, 2025
🧵 pic.twitter.com/gIhY0AQ0yn
She appeared on local Maine news to talk about it.
Rep. Laurel Libby shared a Facebook post after the track and field championship Monday night, highlighting the Greely High School student who won the Girls Class B pole vault. She says that same student tied for 5th place last year in the Boys Class B pole vault. pic.twitter.com/7wsH2AFPhA
— Jackie Mundry (@j_mundry) February 19, 2025
She also brought to people's attention another example of a male cross-country runner winning medals competing against the girls. The Maine Democratic Party asked her to quit publicizing these examples. She told CBN about the pressure she was under, and that she would not buckle.
Maine's Democrat Leadership has asked me to take down my posts exposing their failure to keep biological males out of girls' sports.
— Rep. Laurel Libby (@laurel_libby) February 22, 2025
My answer is simple: I will not.
I will do everything in my power to ensure our girls' voices are heard and their rights are respected. pic.twitter.com/bO5mRKWxfd
The Portland Press Herald accused State Rep. Libby of "ruthless unprofessionalism" in an editorial, claiming she can make her argument without having to resort to using...actual names of male students competing in women's sports in high schools. Imagine the outrage of this elected official using actual examples of unfairness going on under the bastardization of the clear intention of Title IX.
Janet Mills will lose this fight. She will cave at some point. She's already got two federal agencies threatening to pull funding, and Attorney General Pam Bondi hasn't even gotten warmed up, yet. Mills will eventually capitulate in order to get the funding restored. There is too much pressure, both from Washington and from within the political structure in the Pine Tree State for her to go to the mattresses like this for much longer.
Maine, unlike California, does not have a state initiative or proposition system. People can't vote directly on issues. But they do have the ability to vote on referendums for legislation that passes they don't like. It's called the people's veto. In 2005, the Maine Human Rights Act was modified to include gender identity as a protected class. That's it. There is no other law on the books that addresses males playing in female sports in Maine. Mills is relying on a 20-year old tweak on an existing statute on which to hang her entire legal theory.
That theory is going to run squarely into Title IX in federal court, and Maine is going to lose.
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