The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Minnesota March 30, alleging the state has discriminated against female athletes by allowing boys to compete in girls’ sports and access girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, accuses the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League of enforcing policies that ignore the “undeniable physiological differences between male and female athletes,” in violation of Title IX.
“The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a DOJ press release. “This Department of Justice is proud to partner with HHS and the Department of Education to protect our girls in Minnesota and across the country.”
Title IX, a law enacted in 1972, bars discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding “on the basis of sex.” In this case, the DOJ argued that the law requires schools to maintain sex-separated sports and intimate facilities based on sex. Minnesota receives more than $3 billion in federal education funding each year, making compliance with the law a condition of that support, according to the DOJ.
According to the complaint, the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services concluded in September 2025 that Minnesota violated Title IX, citing instances in which boys competed on girls’ teams in several sports.
The complaint also alleged that Minnesota enforces policies allowing participation in sports and access to intimate facilities to be consistent with “gender identity” rather than biological sex and that Minnesota officials declined to revise those policies or enter into a resolution agreement, prompting referral to the DOJ.
The suit seeks a court declaration that Minnesota’s policies violate Title IX, a permanent injunction requiring the state to maintain sex-based separations in sports and intimate facilities and compliance reporting for at least five years. It also seeks to require Minnesota to correct past athletic records and to compensate female athletes affected by the policies.
The DOJ’s move follows President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which directed federal agencies to interpret and enforce Title IX to protect female athletic opportunities.
“The Justice Department cannot ignore when a state brazenly defies federal antidiscrimination law,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said in the release. “In service of radical gender ideology, Minnesota’s actions violate Title IX and deny female athletes their hard-earned trophies, records, dignity, and safety.”