Minnesota became the latest battleground in the Trump administration’s legal push over transgender athletes when the Justice Department filed a lawsuit on Monday targeting the state’s education department and the Minnesota State High School League. The administration asked a federal court in Minnesota to declare that Minnesota’s approach violates Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money.
In a statement, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the department is challenging what she described as “flawed state policies” that fail to follow what the administration calls “biological reality” and that “unfairly undermine girls on the playing field.” The case seeks court orders that would, in effect, bar transgender girls from competing in girls’ high school sports under the state’s current rules.
Minnesota’s Democratic attorney general, Keith Ellison, criticized the lawsuit, saying it is “a sad attempt to get attention” and adding that he will keep fighting. The League, meanwhile, declined to comment on threatened or pending lawsuits, according to a spokesman, Tim Leighton.
The Justice Department’s complaint alleges that Minnesota’s Department of Education and the league are violating Title IX by requiring girls to compete against boys in competitions “designated exclusively for girls,” according to the filing as described by the Justice Department. The lawsuit also alleges that Minnesota’s framework allows boys to access “intimate spaces designated exclusively for girls,” including multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms.
As part of its argument about competitive fairness, the Justice Department pointed to a case involving a transgender pitcher on a Champlin Park High School girls varsity fastpitch softball team. The complaint said the pitcher helped lead the school to a 6-0 victory in a state championship game in 2025, which the administration used to support its claim that transgender athletes have an unfair advantage.
The lawsuit also reflects a broader shift in how the Trump administration reads Title IX, the Justice Department said, describing its move away from the Biden administration’s interpretation that Title IX’s sex-discrimination ban extends to gender identity. According to the complaint, Minnesota’s Department of Education receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding from the U.S. departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and the administration said that money is conditioned on compliance with Title IX.
Monday’s filing comes as multiple states have moved to limit transgender participation in sports, and some courts have blocked parts of those policies. Minnesota officials have resisted a federal push to ban transgender athletes from girls’ sports for months, including through litigation initiated by Ellison last April, which argued Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes Trump administration executive orders issued the previous year. The federal court has a ruling pending on a motion to dismiss that case.
The Justice Department said civil rights offices at the Education and Health and Human Services had put Minnesota and the league on notice last September, warning that legal action would follow if the state did not stop what the administration says are Title IX violations. The suit now asks the court to order Minnesota to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.