U.S. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi attends a press convention, as she unveils actions in opposition to the state of Maine, which is locked in a dispute with the Trump administration over transgender coverage, on the Justice Division in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
The Justice Department on Wednesday mentioned that it was investigating whether or not a California law permitting trans athletes on feminine sports activities groups at state colleges violates federal civil rights law.
The division disclosed the investigation to California’s attorney general and different officers a day after President Donald Trump threatened to revoke large-scale federal funding from the state if it ignored his govt order banning transgender athletes from girls’s sports activities.
“The investigation is to find out whether or not California, its senior authorized, academic, and athletic organizations, and the college district are participating in a sample or follow of discrimination on the idea of intercourse,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California mentioned in an announcement.
On the identical time, the Justice Division mentioned it had filed an announcement of curiosity in a federal courtroom lawsuit filed on behalf of ladies’ athletes that argues trans athletes must be barred from competing with them beneath federal legal guidelines.
“The assertion of curiosity is a part of a nationwide effort by the President, the Attorney General, and the Justice Department to oppose the deprivation of girls and women of honest athletic alternatives,” the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned.
At difficulty within the probe is the query of whether or not California’s College Success and Alternative Act, the state regulation also called AB 1266, conflicts with Title IX, the federal regulation that bans intercourse discrimination in colleges or academic packages that obtain funding from the U.S. authorities.
AB 1266 permits college students to take part at school packages and athletic occasions per their gender identification.
“Title IX exists to guard girls and women in training. It’s perverse to permit males to compete in opposition to women, invade their non-public areas, and take their trophies,” mentioned Harmeet Dhillon, assistant legal professional basic for civil rights, in an announcement.
“This Division will aggressively defend girls’s hard-fought rights to equal academic alternatives.”
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