Trump DOJ tried to force California to ban trans girls from sports. A judge said no

Earlier this week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department challenging California’s trans-inclusive school sports policies, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. While the ruling does not establish a statewide right for transgender athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity, it rejects the DOJ’s claim that California’s policies violate Title IX.Title IX is a 1972 federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. In its suit, the Justice Department alleged that California’s Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation violated the law by allowing transgender student athletes to participate on girls’ sports teams. The DOJ argued that Title IX requires sports eligibility and access to facilities to be determined by biological sex, not gender identity.Related: States can ban transgender women and girls from sports, according to U.S. Supreme Court However, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela ruled Monday that the Justice Department had failed to show that the state’s trans-inclusive policies conflict with Title IX. She also found that a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing other states to enforce anti-trans sports policies did not require California to adopt similar restrictions.In the ruling, Valenzuela wrote that the Supreme Court had “explained that Title IX’s regulations ‘expressly permit schools’ to maintain separate sex-based teams and ultimately held that States ‘may maintain women’s and girls’ sports for biological females’ and ‘may determine eligibility’ for those teams based on biological sex.” But, she continued, the court “upheld the biological-sex eligibility rules before it without holding that Title IX requires every school to adopt the same rule.”Related: The fight for trans athletes isn't about fairness. It's about who gets to belongCalifornia Attorney Genera