Pam Bondi may have twisted the law in Maine anti-trans lawsuit: legal expert
According to one legal analyst, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s lawsuit against the state of Maine Department of Education appears to incorrectly quote the law.
As CBS News reported, Bondi announced on Wednesday that the Department of Justice says Maine is violating Title IX by “discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women’s sports.”
“Law & Chaos” podcast host Liz Dye read through the court filing, which cites federal regulations, side-by-side with the actual regulations.
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On page seven, the complaint reads: “Because such separation cannot disadvantage either sex, the Athletics Regulation requires that if an educational program separates teams by sex, the teams that the program designates as female teams must be completely separated by sex. See 34 C.F.R. § 106.41(b); accord 45 C.F.R. § 86.41(b).”
“(b) Separate teams. Notwithstanding the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, a recipient may operate or sponsor separate teams for members of each sex where selection for such teams is based upon competitive skill or the activity involved is a contact sport. However, where a recipient operates or sponsors a team in a particular sport for members of one sex but operates or sponsors no such team for members of the other sex, and athletic opportunities for members of that sex have previously been limited, members of the excluded sex must be allowed to try-out for the team offered unless the sport involved is a contact sport. For the purposes of this part, contact sports include boxing, wrestling, rugby, ice hockey, football, basketball and other sports the purpose or major activity of which involves bodily contact.”
Dye called it “amazingly mendacious bulls—.”
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, told MSNBC that there are “at most two trans athletes” playing sports in Maine schools.
Trump singled out Mills during a White House event for governors in late February.
Trump bragged about his campaign against transgender youth in sports.
“Are you not going to comply with that?” Trump asked Mills.
“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she replied.
“Well, I’m — we are the federal law,” Trump said.
See Dye’s comparison screen captures here.