Federal Judge Backs Governor Mills Against Trump
After the Trump administration froze federal funds for Maine, District Court Judge John Woodcock told them to knock it off posthaste.
by Alyssa Steinsiek
Trump’s crusade against states and their governors who refuse to sycophantically adhere to his every whim continues unabated, but it seems like these brave resistors may have a new ally in their firm desire for justice. That’s right, they’ve found a man who’s hard on bullies like Trump, and he’s gonna shaft this belligerent administration.
In March, the US Department of Agriculture froze federal funding to Maine as a result of a Department of Education investigation that found the state was failing to comply with changes to Title IX, which defends against sex-based discrimination in education, made by a Trump Executive Order. How, you might ask? Why, by allowing transgender girls to play sports, of course!
The nerve!
As of last Friday, however, District Court Judge John Woodcock ordered the USDA (via 70-page order) to unfreeze any federal funding that the department has refused to pay out to Maine. The threats began on April 2 when US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote a letter to Janet Mills, Governor of Maine, accusing her of violating Title IX.
“You cannot openly violate federal law against discrimination in education and expect federal funding to continue unabated," wrote Secretary Rollins. "Today I am freezing Maine's federal funds for certain administrative technological functions in schools. This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law.”
Speaking about the freeze on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” segment this Monday, Governor Mills said, “Because there are maybe two, at most two transgender athletes competing in Maine schools right now, they decided to shut off funding for our school nutrition program, the school lunch program entirely, on which 172,000 Maine school children rely for their school meals.”
The USDA denies that any nutrition programs were affected by the freeze.
Governor Mills’ beef with Trump started in late February when, at a White House meeting, she refused to tell the president that she would capitulate to the fed’s demands to ban trans girls from sports. When Trump pressed her, Mills said that she would follow state and federal laws, to which Trump responded: “We are the federal law.”
Following up with another threat to cut Maine’s federal funding, Governor Mills told him simply, “See you in court.”
Well, here we are. The Trump administration followed through on their threat to freeze federal funding to Maine, because apparently destroying perhaps two trans girls’ lives is worth starving 172,000 children in Maine. Governor Mills and Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey took the administration to court, and a federal judge has demanded that the Trump administration stop punishing Maine via the USDA.
That’s great… if the Trump administration actually gives a damn.
As we speak, the administration is denying multiple orders from various federal judges, the Supreme Court itself, to take steps to return a man kidnapped and transported to a Salvadoran prison without due process, who is neither a criminal nor a member of any gang. His name is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, and the Trump administration is doing everything they can to slow-walk returning him to America.
Will the Trump administration and USDA then obey a federal judge’s demand that they send Maine the federal money it’s owed, or will they continue besieging a state of the union simply to harm trans kids who want to play sports?
We’ll just have to wait and see, and hope people like Governor Mills remain ready and willing to tell Trump to kick rocks when he comes for our trans kids.
Alyssa Steinsiek is a trans woman journalist who reports on news relevant to the queer community and occasionally posts on BlueSky.
