Trump DOJ tried to force California to ban trans girls from sports. A judge said no

Earlier this week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department challenging California’s trans-inclusive school sports policies, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. While the ruling does not establish a statewide right for transgender athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity, it rejects the DOJ’s claim that California’s policies violate Title IX.

Title IX is a 1972 federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. In its suit, the Justice Department alleged that California’s Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation violated the law by allowing transgender student athletes to participate on girls’ sports teams. The DOJ argued that Title IX requires sports eligibility and access to facilities to be determined by biological sex, not gender identity.

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However, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela ruled Monday that the Justice Department had failed to show that the state’s trans-inclusive policies conflict with Title IX. She also found that a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing other states to enforce anti-trans sports policies did not require California to adopt similar restrictions.

In the ruling, Valenzuela wrote that the Supreme Court had “explained that Title IX’s regulations ‘expressly permit schools’ to maintain separate sex-based teams and ultimately held that States ‘may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females’ and ‘may determine eligibility’ for those teams based on biological sex.” But, she continued, the court “upheld the biological-sex eligibility rules before it without holding that Title IX requires every school to adopt the same rule.”

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California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, which represented the state in court, advanced a similar argument, arguing that Title IX does not require schools to exclude transgender girls from girls’ sports, and neither does the recent Supreme Court ruling.

The DOJ’s suit was spearheaded by two vocal opponents of California’s inclusive policies for transgender students: Harmeet Dhillon, a far-right attorney who now leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Bill Essayli, a conservative former state legislator who now heads the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The Trump administration had also threatened to withhold $44.3 billion in federal funding from the California Department of Education if the state refused to alter its policies.

“We are disappointed by the Court’s order, and remain committed to enforcing President Trump’s agenda preventing boys from playing in girls’ sports,” the DOJ said after the ruling, continuing the administration’s practice of misgendering transgender girls.

Valenzuela emphasized the limits of her ruling. She wrote that the Supreme Court had “declined to decide whether Title IX permits transgender girls to participate on girls’ and women’s teams” and “expressly stated” that nothing in its opinion addressed that “distinct question.” Her decision therefore does not definitively resolve whether Title IX protects transgender students’ right to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity. It instead finds that the law does not require every state to exclude them.

Related: Trump admin lawsuit against California seeks end to trans-inclusive sports policy

LGBTQ+ advocates celebrated the dismissal as a setback for the Trump administration’s broader campaign against transgender rights.

Trevor Norcross welcomed the decision, saying it was “time to get back to supporting and enjoying girls’ and women’s sports instead of trying to tear them down.” Norcross is the father of Lily Norcross, a transgender teen whose participation in school sports the DOJ cited as evidence of an alleged Title IX violation.

“I’m especially excited that girls in California can now focus on athletic competition without having to worry about manufactured culture wars and the prospect of invasive body inspections if they don’t look feminine enough,” Norcross said.

Rainbow Families Action, an advocacy group that supports transgender youth, also hailed the decision, saying the Trump administration’s “relentless and hateful campaign against transgender children has hit another roadblock.”