The Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against California’s Department of Education and a nongovernmental sports organization alleging that they violated federal civil rights laws by implementing policies that “force girls to compete against boys” in state athletic events.
California’s policies, the Justice Department alleges in its complaint, “eviscerate equal athletic opportunities for girls” and cause “a hostile educational environment that denies girls educational opportunities.”
“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. “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.”
In June, the Trump administration threatened California with steep fines and legal action days after a transgender athlete won two statewide high school track-and-field events, ramping up the legal threats aimed at the state over transgender issues.
That student, AB Hernandez, a transgender 16-year-old, won both the high school girls’ high jump and triple jump at a California state track meet on Saturday, after competing under new rules that allowed additional girls to compete and medal in events in which a transgender athlete participates.
Before the competition, California Interscholastic Foundation (CIF), the independent nonprofit organization that runs the state’s high school sports, started a “pilot entry process” that allowed additional female students to participate in the championship meet for certain events. The new rules also resulted in Hernandez sharing the gold medal podium with two other students in a shared first place win in one event. The new policy only applied to events that Hernandez participated in.
However, in a letter sent to California public school districts and the CIF, Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, called CIF policies allowing transgender athletes to compete “unconstitutional.” She alleged that “knowingly depriving female students of athletic opportunities and benefits on the basis of their sex would constitute unconstitutional sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause” of the 14th Amendment.
Dhillon ordered the CIF to inform the Justice Department by June 9 that it will no longer implement a bylaw covering transgender athletes, alleging it violates the rights of female athletes.
The CIF rule criticized by Dhillon’s letter requires California public high schools to allow all students to participate in sports “in a manner that is consistent with their gender identities, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a July 7 post on X that California had rejected the Trump administration demand, writing that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state would face consequences from Bondi and the Justice Department.
Spokespeople for Newsom, and the California Attorney General’s office did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the California Interscholastic Foundation said that the organization does not comment on legal matters.
In April, the Justice Department filed a similar suit against Maine’s Department of Education for alleged Title IX violations.
