Bondi warns states to comply with Trump order on transgender athletes

[Lori Dee]

Bondi warns states to comply with Trump order on transgender athletes
Link to Full Article
The Hill - Brooke Migdon
02/25/25 6:02 PM ET

Attorney General Pam Bondi warned officials in Maine, California and Minnesota on Tuesday to comply with President Trump's executive orders to bar transgender athletes from participating in girls' and women's sports, promising swift legal action.

Officials in each of the states have said state antidiscrimination laws protecting transgender people prevent them from complying with Trump's order,...

Trump's executive order cannot supersede state law, Ellison wrote, because it lacks "the force and effect of law." Executive orders, which direct the federal government to enforce laws, are not laws in and of themselves.

In a news release on Tuesday, Bondi said the Justice Department "does not tolerate state officials who ignore federal law."

Bondi wrote... that, because Title IX is a federal law, it does not matter if "state law allows, or even requires, state athletic associations or other similar entities to require girls to compete against boys in sports and athletic events. Where federal and state law conflict, states and state entities are required to follow federal law."

If any of the states are found to have violated Title IX, "the Department of Justice stands ready to take all appropriate action to enforce federal law."

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Then there is that pesky Tenth Amendment of the Constitution (part of the Bill of Rights):

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

What this means is States' rights give individual states the right to pass and enforce laws and operate independently of and with minimal interference from the federal government. This means each state has the right and the power to operate independently from the federal government as long there is no violation of the U.S. Constitution.

When the U.S. Attorney General is willing to ignore the Constitution and use extortion by withholding federal funding, we have a serious problem.

[MaryT]

Wasn't this how the American Civil War started?

[Lori Dee]

You may be right on that.

We will know the _____ is about to hit the fan when these states call for a Convention of the States. At a Convention, they can override Congress and the President and change the Constitution if they have enough votes.