By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday sued Maine for not complying with the government’s push to ban transgender athletes in girls and women’s sports, escalating a dispute over whether the state is abiding by a federal law that bars discrimination in education based on sex.

The lawsuit follows weeks of feuding between the Republican administration and Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that has led to threats to cut off crucial federal funding and a clash at the White House when she told President Donald Trump: “We’ll see you in court.”

The political overtones of the moment were clear, with Attorney General Pam Bondi — and several athletes who joined her on stage at the Justice Department — citing the matter as a priority for Trump. Bondi said other states, including Minnesota and California, could be sued as well.

“This has been a huge issue for him,” Bondi said of the president. “Pretty simple, girls play in girls sports, boys play in boys sports. Women play in women’s sports, men play in men’s sports.”

Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports in his 2024 race. As president, he has signed executive orders to do that and to use a rigid definition of the sexes, rather than gender, for federal government purposes. The orders are being challenged in court.

Trump’s departments of Education and Health and Human Services have said Maine’s education agency is violating the federal Title IX antidiscrimination law by allowing transgender girls to participate on girls teams. The Justice Department is asking the court to order the state to direct all schools to prohibit the participation of males in athletic competition designated for females.

Maine officials have refused to agree with a settlement that would have banned transgender students from sports, arguing that the law does not prevent schools from letting transgender athletes participate. Mills said Wednesday that the lawsuit was expected and is part of a pressure campaign by Washington to force Maine to ignore its own human rights laws.

“This matter has never been about school sports or the protection of women and girls, as has been claimed, it is about states rights and defending the rule of law against a federal government bent on imposing its will, instead of upholding the law,” Mills said in a statement.

The government’s complaint cites as examples the case of a biological boy who in February won first place in pole vault at Maine’s indoor track and field meet and a biological male who last year began competing in female cross country races in the state and placed first in the women’s 5K.

The lawsuit reflects a stark philosophical turnabout from the position on gender identity issues taken during Democratic administrations.

Under President Joe Biden, the government tried to extend civil rights policies to protect transgender people. In 2016, the Justice Department, then led by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, sued North Carolina over a law that required transgender people to use public restrooms and showers that corresponded the gender on their birth certificate.

Trump signed an executive order in February, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” that gave federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title IX in alignment with his administration’s interpretation of “sex” as the gender someone was assigned at birth.

Bondi was joined at the news conference by former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who has emerged as a public face of the opposition to transgender athletes. Gaines tied with a transgender athlete for fifth place in a 2022 NCAA championship and has testified before lawmakers across the country on the issue. She and others frame the issue as women’s rights.

During a February meeting with governors, Trump threatened to pull federal funding from Maine if the state did not comply with his executive order. Mills responded: “We’ll see you in court.”

Maine sued the administration this month after the Department of Agriculture said it was pausing some money for the state’s educational programs because of what the administration contended was Maine’s failure to comply with the Title IX law. A federal judge on Friday ordered the administration to unfreeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program.

Questions over the rights of transgender people have become a major political issue in the past five years.

Twenty-six states have laws or policies barring transgender girls from girls school sports. GOP-controlled states have also been banning gender-affirming health care for transgender minors and restricting bathroom use in schools and sometimes other public buildings.

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia contributed to this report.