During a meeting of governors at the White House on Friday, President Trump asked Maine Gov. Janet Mills if she would comply with his order barring transgender female athletes from competing at schools receiving federal funding.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills says President Donald Trump does not have the right to withhold funding appropriated by Congress and paid for by taxpayers “in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will.”
The Democratic governor made the statement Friday after the U.S. Department of Education told Maine’s Department of Education that it had been instructed to begin an investigation into the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete.
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Trump has threatened to cut the state’s federal funding unless it backs down.
Mills said she thinks “the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined” but said she would work with the attorney general to fight for Maine in court.
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“But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation,” she said. “I believe he cannot.”
Read Mills' full statement here:
I have spent my career – as a District Attorney, as Attorney General, and now as Governor – standing up for the rule of law in Maine and America. To me, that is fundamentally what is at stake here: the rule of law in our country.
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. It is a violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.
Maine may be one of the first states to undergo an investigation by his Administration, but we won’t be the last. Today, the President of the United States has targeted one particular group on one particular issue which Maine law has addressed. But you must ask yourself: 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? 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.
I imagine that the outcome of this politically directed investigation is all but predetermined. My Administration will begin work with the Attorney General to defend the interests of Maine people in the court of law. But do not be misled: this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, this is about whether a President can force compliance with his will, without regard for the rule of law that governs our nation. I believe he cannot.
