AUGUSTA – Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has filed for a restraining order against the US Department of Agriculture, asking to stop it from freezing federal funding to Maine amid the ongoing fight over whether Maine is violating antidiscrimination law.
Frey’s filing asks for “an order temporarily restraining defendants from terminating, freezing, or otherwise interfering with Maine’s access to federal funds allocated to Maine based on Maine’s alleged violation of Title IX without complying with the requisite statutory and regulatory procedures.”
Frey filed in federal court today on behalf of the state for a restraining order, citing USDA and Secretary Brooke Rollins as defendants. Frey accused Rollins of taking revenge on behalf of President Donald Trump following a clash between the president and Gov. Janet Mills that led to an exchange in front of reporters in February.
Frey’s filing alleges that Rollins and USDA are denying funding to school lunch programs for underprivileged children specifically because Mills refused to comply with a presidential order banning transgender athletes from competing in school sports.
During a visit to Washington on Feb. 21, Trump deliberately called Mills out in front of reporters, asking if she was planning to follow the order.
Mills said she would not be complying with the order. Trump replied that she’d better comply, “Otherwise, you’re not getting any federal funding.”
“We’ll see you in court,” Mills said in response.
Following the exchange, the US Department of Education began investigating whether or not Maine is violating the 1972 Title IX law which bars discrimination based on gender.
In addition to the investigation, Frey’s filing cites a April 2 letter from Rollins to Mills. Frey said Rollins was “sounding more like a hostage taker seeking a ransom payment than a cabinet-level federal official.”
Frey quoted from the letter, saying Rollins wrote, “You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated. Your defiance of federal law has cost your state, which is bound by Title IX in educational programming. Today, I am freezing Maine’s federal funds for certain administrative and technological functions in schools. This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law.”
Neither Rollins nor USDA responded immediately to a request for comment from Spectrum News.
Even if the state is in violation of Title IX, Frey wrote, that can’t be determined without a procedure, including a hearing.
“The secretary cannot simply declare that the state of Maine is in violation of Title IX and terminate federal funding,” Frey wrote.
Frey said the order is necessary because the freezing of funding will cause “irreparable harm” on schoolchildren and even some adults in the state.
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