A court has ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to unfreeze funding for Maine schools.
The temporary restraining order was granted Friday after the USDA froze $3 million as part of an ongoing legal battle over the state’s transgender athlete policy.
On Friday, the federal government said it had referred alleged Title IX violations to the Department of Justice, after the state missed a deadline to comply with the president’s ban on transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports.
The state argued that withholding funding for school meals would cause irreparable harm, while the Trump administration said the money wasn’t intended for school meals.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey praised the decision in a statement on Friday:
“This temporary restraining order confirms the Trump Administration did not follow the rule of law when it cut program funds that go to feed school children and vulnerable adults. This order preserves Maine’s access to certain congressionally appropriated funds by prohibiting an unlawful freeze by the administration. No one in our constitutional republic is above the law and we will continue to fight to hold this administration to account.”
