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The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against Minnesota on Monday as the state continued to defy the president’s order to keep men out of women’s and girls’ sports.
The Justice Department (DOJ) alleged that the state Department of Education (MDE) and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) are in violation of Title IX policies.
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Groups of protesters stand in front of the US Supreme Court as the justices hear the landmark case to decide whether transgender girls should be allowed to participate in girls’ and women’s sports on Tuesday, January 13, 2026. Credit: Andrew Thomas / CNP (Andrew Thomas/CNP for Pakinomist Digital)
“The Trump administration will not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the field,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Minnesota has resisted changing its policy regarding transgender athletes. The state filed a preemptive lawsuit last year, saying the state’s Human Rights Act supersedes President Donald Trump’s orders. The lawsuit said at the time that the state was already in compliance with Title IX. A decision is pending on the federal government’s motion to dismiss the case.
The federal government said in a statement Monday that the state violates Title IX “by requiring girls to compete against boys in girls-only athletic events and allowing boys to invade intimate girls-only spaces, such as multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms.”
A protester holds a sign outside the Supreme Court during arguments over state laws barring transgender girls and women from playing on school athletic teams, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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The Justice Department said MDE’s funding, which is $3 billion annually from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, is contingent on its compliance with Title IX.
The lawsuit asked the federal court in Minnesota to declare that the state is in violation of Title IX.
Pakinomist Digital reached out to MSHSL, MDE and Governor Tim Walz’s office for comment.
In October, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison defended having transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as the state faces a lawsuit from the Trump DOJ. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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“Letting the very small number of transgender students in Minnesota play on their school sports teams doesn’t hurt anyone, but segregating them does,” Ellison said in a statement.
