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President Donald Trump listens during a ceremonial swearing-in of Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, held in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
The state of California launched a pre-enforcement lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday, declaring it would not comply with “illegal” mandates preventing transgender youth from participating in local sports, as the U.S. Justice Department attempted to enforce last week.
Accompanying the lawsuit, the California Department of Education also issued a letter to federal authorities on Monday, informing them that California’s school districts were under no obligation to send certifications regarding transgender sports compliance to the DOJ, as this would breach both existing state law “and the U.S. Constitution,” as stated in a press release from the state’s attorney general.
“Defendants have no right to make such a demand,” the state’s complaint says. “They cite no authority which would allow them to issue or enforce the Certification Demand Letter against California’s LEAs [local educational agencies], nor do they provide any support for their claim.”
California is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief “in anticipation of imminent legal retaliation against California’s school systems” for the state’s refusal to comply, according to officials. They argue that allowing athletic participation consistent with students’ gender identity is “substantially related to the important government interests of affording all students the benefits of an inclusive school environment” — including participation in sports — and preventing the “serious harms that transgender students would suffer from a discriminatory, exclusionary policy.”
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The complaint alleges that throughout his presidential campaign for the 2024 election and since taking office, President Donald Trump and his administration have “consistently expressed contempt and animosity” for transgender people as a group.
“Defendants’ statements and actions, as well as those of President Trump, create a distorted narrative that dehumanizes transgender children and pits them against cisgender students,” the complaint charges. “This narrative instigates antagonism and discrimination towards a discrete and insular class of children and demands that LEAs violate the equal protection rights of transgender students by categorically excluding them from school athletics programs that align with their gender identity.”
California officials say Trump’s executive orders and statements over the past few months and years demonstrate an “unapologetic animus” toward transgender people that has “permeated the entire administration, including but not limited to U.S. DOJ,” according to the state’s press release. Attorney General Bonta ripped Trump in an accompanying statement Monday, saying California would not “break the law and violate the Constitution” just to appease the president.
“They’re demanding that our schools discriminate against the students in their care and deny their constitutionally protected rights,” Bonta said. “As we’ve proven time and again in court, just because the President disagrees with a law, that doesn’t make it any less of one. As California’s chief legal officer, I’ll always fight to uphold and defend the laws of our state, especially those that protect and ensure the civil rights of the most vulnerable among us.”
The state of California has now filed more than 20 lawsuits against the Trump administration since the president took office in January. The state most recently sued over the deployment of the U.S. National Guard to help deal with protests going on in Los Angeles over immigration enforcement.
