DOJ sues California over Title IX violations in women’s sports
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the state of California and the agency that governs female athletics over repeated Title IX violations.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights…
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the state of California and the agency that governs female athletics over repeated Title IX violations.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division filed the suit in District Court in Central California after the state refused a settlement offered by the Department of Education following an investigation that confirmed the state was in violation of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
“Over the past several weeks, the Department of Education has notified the Department of Education in California, as well as the California Interscholastic Federation, that they were in violation of Title IX. They were allowing men to compete in women’s sports,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a video featuring her and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“After years of their being in violation of Title IX, we informed them that if they did not change that, we were going to refer these cases to the Department of Justice, and we have done exactly that.”
Bondi, who runs the Justice Department, cited an example of a biological male who “would have lost every race, yet in women’s sports, he won over three dozen medals.”
“Those medals should be returned to the women, as well as no boys will be allowed in women’s locker rooms.”
The proposed settlement California rejected would have restored lost medals to female athletes and required apology letters to them from the state.
The University of Pennsylvania, which allowed William “Lia” Thomas to win a championship in NCAA women’s swimming, accepted similar terms rather than risk the Trump administration withholding millions of dollars in funding from the university.
President Donald Trump has pledged to end the allowance of biological males in women’s sports, signing executive orders that ban the practice and make clear the federal government recognizes only two genders. States and schools that don’t conform face loss of federal funding.
Bondi explained her department’s efforts to date:
“We have sued Maine. We’re in litigation with Minnesota. We sent multiple letters, and if you do not comply, you’re next. The Department of Education and the Department of Justice – we will protect girls in girls’ sports.”
McMahon further chided California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who said in March that allowing men in women’s sports was “deeply unfair,” yet has done nothing to change it.
“Not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law,” McMahon said in a release announcing the lawsuit.
