The U.S. Justice Department sued California Wednesday over the state’s policy allowing transgender student athletes to compete in female sports, which the department said violates federal anti-discrimination laws.
“The Governor of California has previously admitted that it is ‘deeply unfair’ to force women and girls to compete with men and boys in competitive sports,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi, referencing a controversial comment Gov. Gavin Newsom made on his podcast in March. “But not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law. This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.”
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit is the latest development in an ongoing battle between President Donald Trump and California in the fight over transgender participation in sports. Tensions between the famously liberal state, which has repeatedly taken the administration to court on a range of issues, and Trump, who has vowed to crack down on transgender rights, have risen for months.
At California’s state track meet in late May, AB Hernandez — an openly transgender girl from Jurupa Valley — posted the top scores in the girls’ triple jump and high jump. Under rules enacted days prior, she shared first place with the girls who reached the second-farthest distance. The rule changes came after Trump threatened to pull federal funding from the state if she was allowed to participate.
At the college level, transgender San Jose State volleyball player Blaire Fleming was the subject of great discussion and became a target of Trump’s presidential campaign last fall for her participation with the Spartans’ women’s team. She was not out at the time, but revealed in a New York Times Magazine story this spring that she was transgender. The school is currently under a federal investigation over a potential civil rights violation for allowing a transgender athlete to compete on a women’s team.
The Trump administration also launched an investigation into the state’s education department over its policies on transgender athletes in February and an investigation in April into the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school athletics.
CIF declined to comment on the Justice Department’s lawsuit, saying it does not comment on legal matters. The California Department of Education said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Education concluded its investigations into the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation and determined both agencies violated Title IX — a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination — by “allowing males in girls’ sports and intimate spaces.” The Trump administration gave California 10 days to resolve the violation by forbidding transgender athletes from female sports, restoring records and awards to female athletes who lost to transgender athletes and issuing personalized letters to female athletes apologizing for allowing their “educational experience to be marred by sex discrimination.”
California notified the U.S. Department of Education Monday that the state education department and CIF would not comply with the Trump administration’s demands.
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The complaint alleges California’s federal education funding from the U.S. Department of Education totals $44.3 billion for the 2025 fiscal year, of which $3.8 billion remains “available for drawdown” by the state’s education department. California received about $8 billion in federal funding for K-12 education and about $7 billion in federal funding for higher education in 2024.
“California is on the wrong side of the law and the wrong side of history,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli of the Central District of California. “Women deserve dignity, respect, and an equal opportunity to compete on their own sports teams. The time for talk is over. California must comply with Title IX and end its civil rights violations against women. No person, no state, is above the law.”
Michael Nowels and Darren Sabedra contributed reporting.
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