California files lawsuit against DOJ over transgender athlete demand

California filed a suit against the Justice Department connected Monday after officials demanded that the state’s nationalist precocious schools corroborate they volition barroom transgender athletes from competing successful girls’ sports.

The authorities said successful its suit that the Justice Department had "no close to marque specified a demand" and cited "no authorization which would let them to contented oregon enforce the Certification Demand Letter" to each section acquisition agency.

California defended the laws that person travel into question, which let athletes to enactment successful sports "consistent with" their sex individuality and doesn’t interruption the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 

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Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The suit said the state’s bylaws "do not classify oregon discriminate based connected ’biological sex,’ bash not necessitate schools to ‘depriv[e] [cisgender] pistillate students of diversion opportunities and benefits connected the ground of their sex,’ and bash not effectuate immoderate differential attraction connected the ground of sex.

"Instead, allowing diversion information accordant with students’ sex individuality is substantially related to the important authorities interests of affording each students the benefits of an inclusive schoolhouse environment, including information successful schoolhouse sports, and preventing the superior harms that transgender students would endure from a discriminatory, exclusionary policy," the suit added.

The authorities requested an injunction from the request letter.

Last week, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said successful a missive obtained by Fox News Digital that nationalist schoolhouse districts indispensable "certify successful writing" by June 9 that they volition not abide by the California Interscholastic Federation’s sex individuality rules.

"Knowingly depriving pistillate students of diversion opportunities and benefits connected the ground of their enactment would represent unconstitutional enactment favoritism nether the Equal Protection Clause," Dhillon wrote successful the letter.

President Donald Trump (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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The California Interscholastic Federation governs nationalist and backstage precocious schoolhouse sports successful the authorities and has a bylaw that requires its members to admit sex individuality successful sports.

All students should beryllium capable to enactment successful schoolhouse sports "in a mode that is accordant with their sex identity, irrespective of the sex listed connected a student’s records," the bylaw states.

Dhillon, a erstwhile California-based blimpish attorney, said the certifications she is seeking from the nationalist schoolhouse districts volition "ensure compliance" with Title IX and assistance them to "avoid ineligible liability."

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said successful a connection the suit was filed "in anticipation of imminent ineligible retaliation against California’s schoolhouse systems" failing to adhere to Dhillon’s demand, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"The President and his Administration are demanding that California schoolhouse districts interruption the instrumentality and interruption the Constitution — oregon look ineligible retaliation. They’re demanding that our schools discriminate against the students successful their attraction and contradict their constitutionally protected rights," Bonta wrote. "As we’ve proven clip and again successful court, conscionable due to the fact that the President disagrees with a law, that doesn’t marque it immoderate little of one."

The Justice Department had nary contiguous remark connected the lawsuit.

The DOJ antecedently filed a suit against Maine aft the authorities repeatedly thumbed its chemoreceptor astatine President Donald Trump’s enforcement bid to support males retired of girls’ and women’s sports.

Transgender jock AB Hernandez of Jurupa Valley High School poses with a golden medal astatine the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet successful Moorpark, Calif., connected May 24, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)

The Justice Department accused Maine of "openly and defiantly flouting national anti-discrimination instrumentality by enforcing policies that necessitate girls to vie against boys successful diversion competitions designated exclusively for girls."

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The latest section successful California betwixt the authorities and the Trump medication came days aft transgender jock AB Hernandez won authorities championships successful the girls’ division.

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