The Trump administration is carrying out its threat to punish any state that allows transgender athletes to compete in girls sports by suing Minnesota and its athletics governing body Monday.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, the Justice Department alleges the state Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League are violating Title IX, a federal law against sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal money.
Currently more than two dozen states have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from female sports, although courts have blocked some of those policies.
‘The Trump Administration does not tolerate flawed state policies that ignore biological reality and unfairly undermine girls on the playing field,’ Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the lawsuit ‘a sad attempt to get attention’ over an issue that has already been in litigation for months. He said he’ll keep fighting.
‘It is astonishing that any president would try to target, shame, and harass children just trying to be themselves, let alone a president with so many actual problems to address,’ Ellison said in a statement.
Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, said the Trump White House won’t tolerate ‘flawed’ policies
Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called the lawsuit ‘a sad attempt to get attention’ over an issue that has already been in litigation for months
League officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The administration has filed similar lawsuits against Maine and California, and has threatened the federal funding of some universities over transgender athletes, including San Jose State in California and the University of Pennsylvania.
Minnesota officials have long resisted the federal push to ban trans athletes from girls sports. Ellison filed a preemptive lawsuit last April, saying Minnesota’s human rights act supersedes executive orders issued by President Donald Trump last year. The lawsuit also says the state is already in compliance with Title IX. A ruling is pending on the federal government’s motion to dismiss that case.
The Justice Department said in a statement that Minnesota violates Title IX ‘by requiring girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions that are designated exclusively for girls and allowing boys to invade intimate spaces designated exclusively for girls, such as multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms.’
To buttress its claims that trans athletes have an unfair advantage, the lawsuit highlights the case of a trans pitcher on the Champlin Park High School girls varsity fastpitch softball team who helped lead the school to a 6-0 victory in a state championship game in 2025.
That pitcher, identified publicly as Marissa Rothenberger, would throw a complete-game and hit a pair of doubles in the state semifinals.
‘She’s always clutch,’ Champlin Park coach Bryan Woodley was quoted as saying by TwinCities.Com. ‘I think she’s the best centerfielder in the state. She’s just a great all-around player.’
Minnesota high school softball player Marissa Rothenberger has made headlines in 2025
Rothenberger is biologically male. At nine, Rothenberger’s mother applied in district court to alter her child’s birth certificate after their ninth birthday, with the petition being approved, per Reduxx. Rothenberger was issued a new birth certificate showing to be born female, switching their name from ‘Charlie Dean’ to Marissa.
Rothenberger appears to be referenced in a lawsuit against Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison filed in May.
The complaint, obtained by Daily Mail, claims a ‘male’ pitcher playing for Champlin Park’s girls team has created an unfair playing field for female rivals, who have been denied honors and opportunities as a result.’
A spokesman for Anoka-Hennepin school district declined to comment about Rothenberger to DailyMail in May, citing privacy rules. However, the school has released a general statement.
‘Throughout the entire season, and as the Rebels advance to the state tournament, it is important to note that all of the student athletes participating for the Champlin Park Softball team are eligible to compete in compliance with Minnesota State High School League rules and applicable state law,’ read the statement.
‘Due to data privacy laws, the District is not able to provide public comment regarding a specific student athlete. In addition, the District is named in an active lawsuit, which limits what information can be shared.’
The Trump administration has also reversed the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX, which held that its provisions prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex also extended to gender identity.
According to the Justice Department, Minnesota’s Department of Education receives more than $3 billion annually in federal funding from the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. It says that funding is contingent on compliance with Title IX.
The lawsuit asks a federal court in Minnesota to declare the state in violation of Title IX and order it to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ prep sports.
The civil rights offices at the Education and Health and Human Services put the state and league on notice last September that they faced legal action if they didn’t stop violating the federal law.
Statistics on transgender participation in female sports aren’t comprehensive.
However, in December, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified that fewer than 10 are competing among 500,000 collegiate student athletes in the country.
Despite the scarcity of transgender athletes in female sports, Baker and the NCAA still moved to issue a ban and move the organization into compliance with the Trump administration’s executive order, ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.’
