The topic is women's rights, but Maine Democrat Janet Mills says it is much deeper than that and plans to fight Donald Trump in court over his attempt to, in her words, "coerce compliance" to his executive order.
Trump has promised that the state will lose federal funding as long as it continue to allow males to compete in female athletic competitions and invade women's locker rooms and restrooms.
He was surrounded by hundreds of girls when he signed the order on Feb. 5, less than two weeks before a teenage boy who goes by the name Katie Spencer won the girls' pole vaulting Class B championship in Maine.
Zoe Hutchins, who attends Lawrence High School in Fairfield, Maine, does not think her teammate should have been forced to compete against Spencer.
"My teammate came over to me and told me she was going to have to compete against a biological male. She kept saying it's just not fair, and she is totally right. It is not fair, and it never should have happened," Hutchins told television station WGME.
Spencer's place in the competition is a clear violation of the administration's letter telling public K-12 schools and institutions of higher learning to enforce the 2020 interpretation of Title IX, not Joe Biden's radical rewrite that remains tied up in courts.
Title IX is the landmark legislation of 1972 that advanced women's rights.
May Mailman, a senior policy strategist, told Washington Watch Tuesday the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and Education have all launched investigations into The Pine Tree State over its policy for transgender athletes.
"These are Congress's tools," she said. "Congress, in passing Title IX in 1972, said, 'Hey, states, we're going to give you a bunch of money for your education programs, but it comes with a … pretty easy catch. You can't discriminate on the basis of sex.' And schools signed up for that."
"If you are not providing women private locker rooms, if you are not allowing women fair or safe competition, then you're discriminating against women," Mailman told show host Tony Perkins.
Millions in play for Maine
Gov. Mills' stance threatens more than $360 million in federal funding, roughly $2,100 per student in the state, according to data from the 2021-22 school year, the most recent year available.
She claims the president's insistence that she follow a federal directive to receive federal money is way out of bounds.
As Trump tries to rein in excessive spending and steers the country away from Biden's social engineering, some of the Democrats like to call him a "king" and "dictator."
Mills used both words in her response to the administration on Friday, planting seeds of fear within the public along the way.
"No president – Republican or Democrat – can withhold federal funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will," she said. "It is a violation of our constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold."
Maine is the first state to be investigated, but she warns that it will not be the last, equating her defiance to rights like First Amendment freedoms.
"Who and what will he target next, and what will he do? Will it be you? Will it be because of your race or your religion? Will it be because you look different or think differently? Where does it end?" the governor posed. "In America, the president is neither a king nor a dictator, as much as this one tries to act like it – and it is the rule of law that prevents him from being so."
Pro-lifers know too well what it is like to be targeted, as they experienced that during the previous administration's support for abortion. The arrests of Lauren Handy, Mark Houck and Paul Vaughn are just a few examples.
Mills driven by hate, Mailman says
Though all federal funding the state receives is at risk, the University of Maine is the primary focus of the investigations, where federal money appears in a variety of ways, mostly in the form of research grants.
"Maine could very easily say, 'I'm not going to have men win women's pole-vaulting competitions,' and that would be the end of that, but Maine seems like they have no interest in doing that," the women's rights advocate lamented.
She said Gov. Mills is driven by hate.
"If you think about this as a normal person, this is one of those things that if the governor of Maine had an open heart at all, she would see how easy it is just to protect women's sports," Mailman reasoned. "The only reason that she is declining the money in this way is because she so hates President Trump. This is something that's just rooted in hate and lack of logic."
Compliance with Trump's EO and his 2020 interpretation of Title IX would end the investigations, Mailman said.
