U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is filing a federal lawsuit against Maine for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports, saying it violates a federal law protecting women from discrimination in education and other federally funded activity.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent transgender athletes from competing and calls for titles to be awarded to Maine girls who lost medals to trans athletes, Bondi said. The administration is also considering whether to claw back federal funds retroactively, she said.

“The state of Maine is discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women’s sports,” Bondi said. “Maine’s leadership has refused to comply at every turn, so now we have no other choice — we are taking them to court.”

Bondi said the lawsuit should serve as a warning to states with similar policies, especially California and Minnesota.

“We are fully prepared to sue them and others,” she said.

Gov. Janet Mills said in a written statement Wednesday that the DOJ’s announcement was “the latest, expected salvo in an unprecedented campaign to pressure the state of Maine to ignore the Constitution and abandon the rule of law.” As she has in the past, Mills framed the issue as one about states’ rights and “defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will.”

“For nearly two months, Maine has endured recriminations from the federal government that have targeted hungry school kids, hardworking fishermen, senior citizens, new parents and countless Maine people,” said Mills, who noted that a judge sided with the state last week and ordered the administration to unfreeze federal funding for administering food programs.

“We have been subject to politically motivated investigations that opened and closed without discussion, leaving little doubt that their outcomes were predetermined. Let today serve as warning to all states: Maine might be among the first to draw the ire of the federal government in this way, but we will not be the last.”

In a written statement, Attorney General Aaron Frey echoed Mills’ previous statements about the Constitution’s basic separation of powers, saying “anyone with the most basic understanding of American civics understands the president does not create law nor interpret law.”

“We are confident Maine is acting in accordance with those laws,” Frey said. “Our position is further bolstered by the complete lack of any legal citation supporting the administration’s position in its own complaint. … We look forward to representing the state of Maine and defending the rule of law.”

Maine received $250 million in federal education funding this year, much of it for disabled and low-income students through Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

STATE SUING USDA

The Title IX dispute first reached the courts on April 7, when Frey filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to withhold federal funds because of Maine’s transgender policy. Frey’s office said funds withheld by the Trump administration are used to feed children in schools, child care centers and after-school programming, as well as disabled adults in congregate settings.

On April 11, the judge in that case granted the state’s request for a temporary emergency restraining order, blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture from cutting, pausing or otherwise interfering with federal funding to Maine.

The Trump administration has threatened Maine with a variety of sanctions since February after a social media post by a state lawmaker called attention to a transgender high school student winning a girls’ indoor track title.

That post by Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, came a month after Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two genders — male and female assigned at birth — and about two weeks after a separate executive order entitled, “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports.”

Libby, who was later censured by the Maine House of Representatives for including photos of the student in her post, stood next to Bondi during the news conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Libby spoke during the news conference, thanking the administration for intervening and applauding a Maine school district that voted unanimously this week break with the state’s policy and comply with Trump’s order.

“They are in alignment with two-thirds of my fellow Mainers and I would encourage other school school boards through Maine — I would exhort you – to speak up for Maine girls similarly and vote to align with Title IX,” Libby said in brief remarks.

LIBBY, MAINE ATHLETES AT NEWS CONFERENCE

Also joining Bondi were two female athletes from Maine, including Cassidy Carlisle, a senior at Presque Isle High School who said she was forced to change in front of transgender girl at the age of 13 and has lost several Nordic skiing events to a transgender girl. She described Mills’ position has “heartbreaking” and “a betrayal” to girls like her.

“I am fighting this fight for generations to come,” Carlisle said. “I want to thank these women standing behind me and President Trump for fighting for us, because even though my own governor isn’t fighting for me, I know there are people out there fighting for me.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Riley Gaines, a former swimmer and activist who has led the charge nationally against transgender athletes, were also on hand.

Maine officials have maintained that the state is complying with federal and state laws that can’t be overridden by executive orders. And, they say, the Trump administration is trying to enforce the orders by misinterpreting a core federal antidiscrimination law, Title IX.

Trump publicly called out Mills over Maine’s policy of allowing transgender girls to participate in girls sports in February, when she was attending an event at the White House with other governors.

Trump threatened to pull all federal funding if Maine didn’t comply with his order, but Mills said she would follow state and federal law.

When Trump claimed he and his administration were the federal law, Mills said, “see you in court,” a comment the administration tossed back at Mills when announcing its referral to the DOJ last week.

“Governor Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom — be careful what you wish for,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor at the U.S Department of Education said in a written statement. “Now she will see the Trump Administration in court.”

The administration launched a series of investigations following the Feb. 21 confrontation at the White House. In addition to the U.S. DOE, the departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture also launched investigations and threatened funding cuts.

In a separate action, the Social Security administration briefly ended a contract that allows parents to sign up their newborns for Social Security cards at the hospital — a move the acting commissioner, Lee Dudek, later admitted was done in anger at Mills for standing her ground against Trump at the White House event.

The U.S. DOE initially found Maine in violation of Title IX on Feb. 25 — only five days after announcing an investigation, which state officials said did not include any of their input. The U.S. DOE issued a final warning to the state on March 31, allowing 10 days for the state to sign an agreement to come into compliance.

The Maine Office of Attorney General informed the administration Friday that it would not sign the agreement, citing case law that it says bolsters the state’s interpretation of Title IX.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONCERNS

Maine is one of several states to include gender identity it its state human rights act. Mills has said that prohibits schools from banning transgender athletes and her current stance has more to do with the constitutional separation of powers and concerns about presidential overreach than it does with transgender athletes.

Bondi’s news conference Wednesday came two days after Mills blasted the Trump administration in a nationally televised interview on MSNBC on Monday, saying that “even a fifth grade civics student” knows a president cannot create laws outside of Congress.

Mills said in that interview that there were “at most” only two transgender girls participating in girls sports. Bondi was asked whether that small of a number justified the federal resources being put into this case.

“If one young woman is in jeopardy — one! — that is enough for us to be standing up here,” Bondi said. “No boy will be undressing in a girls’ locker room. No boy will be walking in a women’s restroom. And no boy, when we’re finished with this, will be beating young girls in sports.”