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Judge sides with Trump administration in Minnesota lawsuit over trans students

Minnesota District Chief Judge Eric Tostrud dismissed all but one of the state’s claims.

By Bianca Quilantan

A federal judge on Monday largely dismissed a Minnesota lawsuit that sought to challenge the Trump administration’s interpretation of Title IX, the federal law that bars sex-based discrimination.

Minnesota is the only state challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders issued during his first year declaring there are only two sexes — male and female — and restricting transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

The Trump administration has taken action to force school districts to end their trans-inclusive policies, including threatening to pull their federal education funding. Minnesota sued to stop the administration from pulling funds from schools in the state.

Minnesota District Chief Judge Eric Tostrud said in his ruling the state’s case is ripe, meaning the legal issue is clear and ready for a court to make a decision on. But the state’s argument failed in proving the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which sets standards for how the federal government issues regulations, and the 10th Amendment, which reserves powers for the states.

The judge focused on the fact that there has not been a final action made by the administration on this issue and said its findings that the Minnesota education agency’s trans-inclusive policies violate federal law and subsequent letters to the state do not count.

“Minnesota will not face legal consequences unless and until a hearing is held in which the relevant agency finds that Minnesota is not in compliance with Title IX, or a court finds, in a civil enforcement action, that Minnesota is not in compliance with Title IX,” Tostrud wrote. “Neither event has occurred here. The Findings themselves impose no legal injury on Minnesota.”

Additionally, Tostrud pointed to the Supreme Court’s ruling this June to uphold state bans on trans athletes to support his argument.

He said that while the high court did not decide whether states and schools may allow trans athletes to compete in women’s sports, “the Supreme Court’s determination that ‘sex’ in Title IX refers to biological sex provides at least some support for the Defendant’s interpretation of the statute.”

The state had argued that the changes violate a Minnesota law that forbids discrimination based on gender identity. A separate state law also requires Minnesota schools to adopt and implement “a written policy to prevent and prohibit student bullying” based on “gender identity and expression.”

While the case was tossed, another is still ongoing. The Trump administration is urging the Minnesota District Court to rule that the state’s education department and the Minnesota State High School League violated Title IX because they allow transgender girls to play on sports teams and use locker rooms that align with their gender identity. The lawsuit stemmed from investigations from the Education Department and Health and Human Services Department.

Tostrud said the administration’s arguments that Minnesota’s case was not ripe were unconvincing largely because the Trump administration has also sued the Minnesota Department of Education and the state’s high school sports authority over their transgender athlete policies.

“By filing that case, the United States affirmatively invoked the court’s jurisdiction seeking resolution of essentially the same issues at the core of this case,” Tostrud wrote. “It is difficult to understand how that case might be ripe, but this one is not.”

Tostrud also agreed with Minnesota’s spending clause argument that the executive orders, findings and letters impose conditions that are “unclear, are unrelated to Title IX’s purpose, ‘will induce recipients to violate the constitutional rights of students by discriminating against transgender individuals,’ and are unlawfully coercive.”

It was the main claim that was not dismissed by the judge since the state could lose roughly $2.9 billion in federal funding.

“It may be that Title IX does in fact prohibit transgender women and girls from participating on sports teams designated for women and girls or from using restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity,” he wrote. “But that does not mean Minnesota had sufficiently clear notice that Title IX contained that prohibition when it decided to accept federal funding.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement he was “pleased that a major constitutional claim against President Trump will move forward and I look forward to proving in court that the President violated the Constitution.”

The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.