Federal judge orders USDA to unfreeze funds to Maine

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funding that was allocated to Maine from the U.S. Department of Agriculture — funds that had been withheld following President Trump’s clash with Maine Gov. Janet Mills over the issue of transgender athletes.

U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock granted Maine’s request for a temporary restraining order on Friday. The USDA is just one of the agencies where federal funding for Maine has been threatened. The agency did not immediately respond to request for a comment.

The feud between Trump and the state of Maine began after the president issued an executive order in early February barring transgender student athletes from playing on girls’ sports teams. The order also calls for the federal government “to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”

In response, the Maine Principals’ Association, which governs school sports in the state, said it will continue to allow trans girls to compete, asserting that federal action is at odds with state law. Then, on Feb. 21, during a governors’ event at the White House, Trump called out Mills for resisting his executive order.

“You better do it, because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t,” Trump told Mills.

To which Mills replied, “See you in court.”

Since the confrontation, Trump has demanded an apology from the Maine governor. “We need a full throated apology from the Governor herself, and a statement that she will never make such an unlawful challenge to the Federal Government again, before this case can be settled,” he wrote on social media.

Following the fallout, the Trump administration has also initiated multiple investigations into Maine, citing concerns over Title IX, which prohibits discrimination in education based on sex, Maine Public Radio reported. That includes the Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services.

The USDA got involved earlier this month. In a letter on April 2, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Mills that USDA funding for certain administrative and technological functions in schools will be paused in response to the governor’s “defiance of federal law.”

It was unclear how much aid would be affected but Rollins threatened that other areas of research and education-related funding will be reviewed. In response, the state of Maine filed a complaint on Monday, arguing that the USDA did not follow the mandatory statutory and regulatory steps before it can terminate federal funds.

In the suit, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey urged the court to reinstate federal funds, arguing that it was aid used to feed schoolchildren in Maine.