WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit Monday against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League, alleging the state’s policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports and access girls’ locker rooms violate federal anti-discrimination law.
The Civil Rights Division filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, case number 0:26-cv-02078, assigned to Judge Eric C. Tostrud. The complaint names the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League as defendants and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief as well as damages.
The complaint alleges Minnesota has engaged in sex-based discrimination by requiring girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions designated exclusively for girls and allowing boys to access multi-person locker rooms and bathrooms designated for girls. The lawsuit is related to an existing case, Minnesota v. Trump, in which the state sued the federal government over the same policies.
The Minnesota Department of Education receives more than $3 billion in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services. As a condition of that funding, the state agreed to comply with Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal support. The Minnesota State High School League, which has more than 500 member schools, oversees scholastic sports in the state.
The complaint details two specific cases. A male student identified only as Student A has competed on the Champlin Park High School girls’ varsity fastpitch softball team since at least 2023, posting a 0.40 ERA and 106 strikeouts in the 2024 season and going 12-1 in the 2025 regular season before pitching three complete games in the state championship tournament. A second male student identified as Student B has competed on girls’ track and field and cross country teams in southeast Minnesota. The DOJ said both students have displaced and will continue to displace female athletes from equal opportunities.
The complaint also cites the case of a 16-year-old female student at Stewartville High School who was forced to share restroom and locker room facilities with boys. When she raised the issue with her principal, the complaint says the principal responded that the boys could “be whoever they want to be.”
Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the Trump administration would not tolerate state policies that ignore what she called biological reality. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said Minnesota’s actions violated Title IX and denied female athletes their records, trophies, dignity and safety.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon also issued statements supporting the lawsuit. McMahon said Minnesota’s policies allow men to dominate women’s sports, denying female athletes fair competition and equal access in educational programs.
The DOJ said it made multiple attempts to secure voluntary compliance before filing suit. Minnesota responded to federal warnings by filing its own lawsuit against the Trump administration in April 2025, and later amended it to add the Department of Education and HHS as defendants.
