U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, a Bush appointee, has sided with Maine’s far-left government, forcing the Trump administration’s Department of Agriculture to unfreeze federal funds despite the state’s open defiance of Title IX protections for women and girls.
The case stems from a fiery conflict between the Trump administration and Maine’s Democrat leadership after Governor Janet Mills refused to comply with Executive Order 14201, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” issued by President Trump in February.
Judge John A. Woodcock
The administration, led by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, retaliated by freezing critical federal funds earmarked for educational programs and child nutrition services
In his ruling, Judge Woodcock said the USDA acted “without observance of procedure required by law,” noting that the department failed to hold any hearing or notify Congress.
The court further emphasized the grave consequences of the funding freeze, which jeopardized food programs serving thousands of children and adults across Maine.
“Secretary Rollins cannot simply declare Maine in violation of Title IX and pull funding with zero due process,” the judge wrote.
Judge Woodcock’s temporary restraining order not only mandates the release of these funds but also prohibits the U.S. Department of Agriculture from taking similar actions in the future without adhering to specific legal procedures.
This decision was made after Maine’s far-left leadership, defying a federal order to protect fairness and safety under Title IX, doubled down on a dangerous policy that allows biological males to compete in girls’ sports on Friday.
The state’s refusal to comply with the U.S. Department of Education’s directive has escalated into a full-blown showdown, with the Trump administration taking decisive action to hold Maine accountable.
Maine’s Assistant Attorney General issued a smug rejection of the Department of Education’s proposed Resolution Agreement, claiming no legal basis exists to bar transgender girls—biological males—from girls’ teams.
Citing a handful of activist-driven court rulings, the state’s response dripped with arrogance, dismissing the privacy, safety, and opportunities of female athletes.
“The Maine Department of Education and the Maine Office of the Attorney General have reviewed the draft Resolution Agreement and your Impasse Letter dated March 31, 2025. We will not sign the Resolution Agreement, and we do not have revisions to counter propose. We agree that we are at an impasse,” the letter wrote.
“Nothing in Title IX or its implementing regulations prohibits schools from allowing transgender girls and women to participate on girls’ and women’s sports teams. Your letters to date do not cite a single case that so holds.”
On Friday, the Department of Education fired back, referring the case to the Department of Justice for enforcement and initiating proceedings to strip Maine’s K-12 schools of federal funding—a move that could cripple the state’s education system.
“The Department has given Maine every opportunity to come into compliance with Title IX, but the state’s leaders have stubbornly refused to do so, choosing instead to prioritize an extremist ideological agenda over their students’ safety, privacy, and dignity,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor.
He continued, “The Maine Department of Education will now have to defend its discriminatory practices before a Department administrative law judge and in a federal court against the Justice Department. Governor Mills would have done well to adhere to the wisdom embedded in the old idiom—be careful what you wish for. Now she will see the Trump Administration in court.”
In February, the Department of Education launched an investigation into Maine’s compliance with Title IX laws after Democrat Maine Governor Janet Mills clashed with President Donald Trump at a National Governors Association (NGA) meeting over biological males competing against females. During the meeting, she claimed that she would see Trump in court to fight him over the issue.
In March, the U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into the Maine Department of Education over allegations that schools in the state may have violated federal law by hiding student gender transitions from parents.
The probe would look for breaches of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
The U.S. D.O.E. said in a press release at the time:
This investigation comes amid reports that dozens of Maine school districts are violating or misusing FERPA by maintaining policies that infringe on parents’ rights. The districts’ policies allegedly allow for schools to create “gender plans” supporting a student’s “transgender identity” and then claim those plans are not education records under FERPA and therefore not available to parents.
This action, alongside SPPO’s investigation initiated yesterday into the California Department of Education, is in furtherance of U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s directives to strengthen FERPA enforcement by taking action against schools misusing FERPA and clearing the backlog of complaints submitted to SPPO that accumulated under the Biden Administration.
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