Maine Attorney General's Office pushed back on Title IX investigations, emails show
Last month, after receiving notice that Maine was in violation of federal law for allowing transgender girls to play on girls' sports teams, the Maine Attorney General's Office pushed back on federal findings, questioning both the process and the conclusion of the investigation.
But according to records obtained through a Freedom of Access Act request, the office also pointed federal officials to two proposed bills — LD 233 and LD 868 — that would ban trans athletes. Whether these bills will alter the course of the investigation is unknown, but one thing is clear: the federal government is now paying attention to these proposals.
'We have reviewed the proposed legislation at LD 233 and LD 868 that your team sent on Wednesday,' wrote Daniel Shieh, Associate Deputy Director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights in an email on March 17.
'We are not prepared to stay the investigation at this time, but please let us know if those bills become law in Maine.'
The two bills are among several proposals introduced this session by Republican lawmakers aimed at restricting transgender students' participation in school sports. Neither has had a public hearing yet.
LD 233, sponsored by Rep. Katrina Smith of Palermo, would require student-athletes to participate in sports based on their 'biological sex' and would prohibit transgender girls from joining girls' teams in public schools. LD 868, introduced by Rep. David Haggan of Hampden, is similar in scope, reinforcing gender-based athletic categories and citing competitive fairness and safety.
Republican lawmakers have urged Maine to comply with federal directives and walk back support of trans students' rights to athletics, locker rooms and bathrooms.
'This is not sustainable,' said Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) in a press conference on April 1. 'We're a poor state. We are heavily reliant on federal money. The governor needs to move on this.'
In February, after an investigation that took a handful of days and concluded without any interviews, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights determined that Maine had violated Title IX, the federal law banning sex-based discrimination, and infringed upon the rights of cisgender girls by allowing trans girls to participate in girls sports. It held the Maine Department of Education for the violations, demanding the state change its policies. HHS claimed that the state department of education, by way of its relationship to the Maine Principal's Association and its receipt of federal funds, had violated Title IX.
But the Attorney General's Office rejected the claim, arguing in a letter sent on March 4 that the federal government had overstepped its authority and mischaracterized the facts. In the letter, Assistant Attorney Generals Sarah Forster and Kimberly Patwardhan wrote that the February 21 notice from HHS 'did not specify how OCR planned to conduct its compliance review,' or explain what legal framework it would be based on, nor did it include attempts to discuss findings with the department or attorney general's office, or to reach a cooperative agreement
'No one from OCR contacted MDOE or the Maine OAG for further information or to discuss cooperation or compliance,' the letter stated, calling the entire process 'accelerated' and legally questionable.
The letter also rejected the federal government's core argument — that the state department of education is responsible for policies governing high school athletics, which is overseen by the Maine Principal's Association. The attorneys stressed that the organization is a private, nonprofit corporation, not a state agency, and is neither created nor operated by the department.
'MDOE does not agree that it is in violation of Title IX, nor does it agree that OCR has laid out a sufficient factual or legal basis for such a determination,' Forster and Patwardhan wrote.
Further undermining the federal claims, the letter pointed out factual inaccuracies in HHS's findings. One of the core justifications for the compliance review was that MDOE allegedly received more than $500,000 in federal assistance from the Administration for Community Living in 2024. However, that funding had already been transferred to the University of Maine at Augusta with approval from the federal agency in March 2024 — nearly a year before the review. 'There is a significant inaccuracy,' the attorneys wrote, attaching documentation to prove the transfer of funding.
Shieh wrote back the next day with an amended compliance review notice, this time including the Principal's Association and Greely High School, where a trans athlete who competed on a girls team attends school.
'Although Maine claims 'MDOE is not responsible for interscholastic youth sports or athletic programs in Maine,' it distributes funds for staff salaries, school facilities, and transportation, which in turn support athletics and interscholastic competition,' the letter said. 'The fact that MDOE has ceded control over its activities to MPA does not limit its obligations under Title IX.'
On March 12, HHS appears to have met with all three organizations based on the emails, and five days later, the agency sent the attorney general's office an amended determination, holding the department, the high school and the association in violation of Title IX, because they uphold the Maine Human Rights Act, which protects trans students by including gender identity among the list of protected classes.
'When a state law, such as Section 4601 of Maine's Human Rights Act, frustrates Congress's purpose and poses an obstacle to the accomplishment of those purposes, that state law is preempted,' the letter said.
Rep. Michael Soboleski (R- Phillips) said he is introducing a bill to remove consideration of gender identity from the act, and asked Democrats and Mills to support the legislation in order to avoid the risk of losing federal funding.
'The problem is that the term gender identity and the Human Rights Act is being interpreted way too broadly by the left,' Stewart said in the press conference. 'And what it's saying is there's no boundary between men's and women's spaces.'
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