The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has found Maine to be in violation of Title IX for allowing transgender student-athletes compete in women’s sports.

The Maine Department of Education violates the landmark equal opportunity law by allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s athletic events, the federal department wrote in a letter to the offices of the governor and attorney general.

The letter, dated Feb. 25, came just four days after the Trump administration announced its investigation. It does not contain any references to dialogue with state officials as part of the investigation.

State officials, including Attorney General Aaron Frey and Gov. Janet Mills, could not be reached or would not discuss the letter on Thursday.

The determination is unlikely to come as a surprise to state officials. Mills and the Maine Principals’ Association have publicly stated that they will not comply with Trump’s executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports because it would violate state law. Mills also suggested that the Trump administration had already made up its mind before investigating.

“I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined,” Mills said in a written response to the investigations, which came after she clashed with Trump at the White House.

“My administration will begin work with the attorney general to defend the interests of Maine people in the court of law,” Mills said last month. “But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a president can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.”

The letter charges that allowing transgender athletes to compete means girls are subject to “heightened safety or competitive concerns” creating a lack of fair competition under Title IX.

“The provision of additional opportunity for individuals who assert a ‘gender identity’ different from their sex (assigned at birth), constitutes discrimination on the basis of gender identity, against students who identify as their sex” assigned at birth, DHHS continues in the letter.

The department referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice, it said in the letter, which notes that the Maine DOE has received about $703,000 from U.S. DHHS since 2024.

The finding appears to be a prelude to a federal lawsuit against the state. However, the U.S. DOJ did not respond Thursday to questions about what enforcement action — if any — it would take against Maine.

Republicans in Maine’s House of Representatives seized on the notice of violation to step up pressure on the Mills administration to reverse the state’s policy of allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports, even though the administration says that barring them would be a violation of state law.

“The Mills administration’s policy of allowing biological boys in girls’ sports has physically and mentally mistreated our young ladies and now this same policy will harm every child and teacher with the loss of federal funds to our schools,” Assistant House Republican Leader Katrina Smith, R-Palermo, said in a written statement Thursday morning. “Enough is enough, it is time to put away radical ideology and put the future of our kids first.”

Communications from Maine Republicans and the Trump administration refer to transgender girls and women as men or “biological boys” in keeping with a Trump executive order proclaiming there are only two genders — a position contradicted by the American Medical Association and other medical groups.

The Trump administration announced several investigations into Maine’s policy allowing transgender athletes following a heated exchange between Mills and President Donald Trump at the National Governors Association’s winter meeting last month.

After Trump singled Mills out, she told him Maine would follow state and federal law, to which the president replied, “Well, we are the federal law” and threatened to pull funding. That prompted Mills to say, “see you in court.”

The exchange came a day after Trump said at a Republican gathering in Washington that he heard “men are still playing” in Maine.

The U.S. DHHS quietly announced that it was conducting a Title IX compliance review of the Maine DOE and the University of Maine System on Feb. 21 — the day Mills and Trump clashed at the White House.

After the confrontation, the U.S. Department of Education announced Title IX investigations against the Maine DOE and the Cumberland-North Yarmouth school district, where a transgender female won a girls state pole vaulting championship.

A photo of that student standing on the podium was posted on social media with commentary by Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, who was censured by House Democrats for disclosing the student’s name, face and school in the viral post that caught Trump’s attention.

On Feb. 22, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a Title IX investigation into UMaine.

STATUS OF INVESTIGATIONS UNCLEAR

The status of those investigations is unclear.

On Wednesday, a White House spokesperson told reporters that the U.S. DOE had already sued the state. State officials said Thursday that’s not the case.

When asked during a press briefing about the dispute with Maine, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the Department of Education has sued the state of Maine and, as you know, there’s ongoing litigation.”

“The president has made a commitment to ensure that states are being held accountable if they continue to allow men in women’s sports, which he believes is an egregious violation of taxpayer dollars, so that fight continues,” Leavitt said. “The president won’t back down. This is a commonsense policy. Eighty percent of the American people, including more than 60% of Democrats, do not want men in women’s sports, so the president will stand by his commitment.”

A spokesperson said Attorney General Frey would not discuss the letter with a reporter or provide a comment.

Spokesperson Danna Hayes said “there is no pending litigation” consistent with the White House’s remarks. She did not respond to questions about the other ongoing investigations.

A spokesperson for Mills referred all questions to the AG’s office, adding that nobody from Mills’ office or the Maine DOE were contacted during the U.S. DHHS investigation.

A spokesperson for the University of Maine said the university held a video conference with USDA officials on Feb. 25 and followed up in writing the next day, but the university has not yet been contacted by the U.S. DHHS, which is also conducting a compliance review.

“At no point has USDA made any allegations of wrongdoing by Maine’s public universities,” spokesperson Samantha Warren said in an email Thursday, adding that University of Maine System athletic programs are in compliance with the NCAA’s updated policies, which exclude men who identify as women from participating in women’s sports.

“Our system will continue to cooperate with USDA’s review and comply with all relevant state and federal laws to ensure UMS postsecondary educational opportunities and high-impact research can continue to benefit our students, the state and this nation.”

Jeffrey Porter, superintendent of Maine School Administrative District 51, which includes the high school with the transgender pole vaulter, said Thursday that he has not heard anything from the Trump administration since receiving a Feb. 21 letter from the DOE notifying the district it is under investigation.

This story has been updated to reflect that Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump clashed at the White House on Feb. 21.