Pam Bondi Sends Ultimatum to 3 States Defying Trump’s Transgender Sports Order: ‘I Hope That It Does Not Come to This’

Attorney General Pam Bondi has warned state officials in Maine, Minnesota and California that the hammer will come down upon them if they do not abide by President Donald Trump’s executive order barring men who claim to be women from playing in women’s sports.

“This Department of Justice will defend women and does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law,” Bondi said in a statement, according to Politico.

“We will leverage every legal option necessary to ensure state compliance with federal law and President Trump’s executive order,” she added.

Last week, Maine Gov. Janet Mills openly defied Trump’s order during a White House meeting with governors, leading Trump to threaten a halt to federal aid flowing to Maine’s schools.

Trump’s order framed male participation in women’s sports as a denial of the rights of women under Title IX, which bans discrimination based on gender.

Bondi wrote in a letter to Mills that the Office of Civil Rights has already begun an investigation into Maine. She said in letters to officials in Minnesota and California that investigations there have also begun.

In the letters, Bondi noted that state sports associations in Minnesota and California, and Mills herself, have said they will defy the order.

“Indeed, despite initially assuring President Trump that you would ‘comply with … federal law,’ you have since reversed course, stating that ‘Maine law has addressed’ this issue and suggesting that the federal government’s attempts to enforce federal antidiscrimination laws can only be explained by President Trump acting like ‘a dictator,’” Bondi wrote to Mills.

“This Department of Justice will hold accountable states and state entities that violate federal law,” Attorney General Pam Bondi warned.

“Let me be clear. Requiring girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events violates Title IX of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972. And under the Constitution, federal law-including Title IX-is ‘the supreme Law of the Land,’” Bondi added.

She would continue: “It therefore does not matter if Maine state law allows, or even requires, state athletic associations or other similar entities to require girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events.”

“Where federal and state law conflict, states and state entities must follow federal law-not because we live in a dictatorship but because the Constitution requires states to follow the supreme law of the land,” Bondi said.

The letters said that if investigations show that officials “are indeed denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by requiring them to compete against boys, the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law.”

“I hope that it does not come to this. The Department of Justice does not want to have to sue states or state entities, or to seek termination of their federal funds,” Bondi wrote.

She concluded: “We only want states and state entities to comply with the law. And federal law requires giving girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events by ensuring that girls need to compete only with other girls, not with boys.”

Paula Scanlan, a former teammate of transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, said the issue runs deeper than federal law, according to Fox News.

“It’s not fair for them to compete because they’re looking at a crazy difference between being in the men’s category and being in the women’s category. And the people that are saying this have lost their mind … because no one agrees with this. Even Democrats agree that men should not compete in women’s sports,” Scanlan said.

“It’s heartbreaking, and that’s exactly why we’ve fought so hard for this issue. Women didn’t have sports back in the day. They fought so hard for Title IX, and now we’re looking at having to fight all over again because mediocre male athletes want to put on a dress and grow their hair out and say that they’re magically women one day. That’s why this issue has lost its way,” she said.

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