An activist has just ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to lift the freeze on federal taxpayer funding for Maine.
Trump’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) stopped federal funds going to Maine after the state’s Democrat leadership refused to comply with his executive order to ban male athletes from competing in female sports.
Judge John Alden Woodcock Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine has now ordered the Trump administration to “unfreeze” the funds.
The ruling orders the USDA to “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.”
The USDA announced the funding freeze and a review of federal funding to Maine earlier this month.
The freeze came after the state refused to provide equal opportunities to women and girls in educational programs.
The state has refused to comply with Trump’s February executive order to ban male athletes who claim to be “transgender females” from girls’ and women’s sports.
The failure to comply with the order has prompted immense federal pressure.
Trump initially vowed to cut federal funding to the state if it refused to comply with the order during a February 20 speech.
Maine officials filed a lawsuit against the USDA on Monday.
It came in response to 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.”
Judge Woodcock agreed with Maine’s argument.
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.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) recently called for the issues between the administration and her state to be “resolved.”
Collins said that she would continue to fight for federal funding for the state while also being against male athletes in female sports.
The Department of Education (DOE) also launched an investigation into the state due to the issue.
The DOE’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) referred the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) to the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday.
The DOJ was called on to investigate the state for continuing to allow male athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
It’s the second DOJ referral the state’s educational institutions have faced in the last month over the issue.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also referred MDOE, the Maine Principals’ Association, and Greely High School on March 28.
After Trump signed an executive order to ban male 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 the issue was then brought to light when Maine state Rep. Laurel Libby identified a male athlete in a social media post who won a girls’ pole vault competition for Greely High School that month.
Libby was censured by Maine’s Democrat majority and Speaker Ryan Fecteau for the post.
The lawmaker is now prevented from carrying out other legislative actions to serve her constituents.
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