Federal Civil Rights Enforcement

The Department of Justice filed suit Monday in federal court in Minnesota seeking to bar transgender students from competing in girls’ sports and to compel sex-separated locker rooms and bathrooms without gender‑identity exceptions, alleging the state’s policies violate Title IX by forcing girls to compete against boys and allowing boys into intimate spaces. The lawsuit follows Education and HHS findings that Minnesota’s Education Department and State High School League violated civil‑rights laws, comes after Minnesota rejected a proposed federal resolution that would have required policy changes, apologies and rescission of records, and is part of a broader Trump‑administration push that has opened dozens of investigations and spawned a parallel suit against California; Minnesota had earlier filed a preemptive suit claiming its human‑rights law preempts the federal policy and a motion to dismiss is pending. The action drew praise from former Vikings captain Jack Brewer, who urged continued enforcement as a defense of Title IX protections for girls.