The State of Maine dropped its lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday after reaching a settlement agreement, which comes as the two parties have been feuding over transgender policies.
Maine agreed to withdraw its lawsuit in exchange for the Department of Agriculture vowing not to freeze the millions of dollars it directs to the state’s Department of Education unlawfully, according to court documents.
The settlement ends a lawsuit over the USDA freezing what the state alleged was $3 million and counting. The federal funds were allocated largely to the Child Nutrition Program, which funds various school lunch programs, Maine attorneys said.
Judge John Woodcock, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, previously ruled in Maine’s favor by granting a restraining order. He said the USDA’s actions were “contrary to law, for multiple reasons,” including because Secretary Brooke Rollins did not follow legal procedures required to stop the funding.
Rollins agreed on Friday to “refrain from freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine’s access” to USDA funds, “based on alleged violations of Title IX without first following all legally required procedures,” the agreement read.
Rollins accused Maine in April of flouting Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education, and said she was pausing all USDA funding to the state because of it. Upon taking office, President Donald Trump interpreted Title IX to exclude gender identity after former President Joe Biden reinterpreted the law to include it.
“This is only the beginning, though you are free to end it at any time by protecting women and girls in compliance with federal law,” Rollins wrote in a letter to Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME).
The letter came as part of a broader dispute that arose in February, when Trump chided Mills during a luncheon over Title IX after a transgender pole vaulter in Maine won a girls state competition. Mills told local news there were “maybe two” transgender athletes in her state.
The funding freeze was not Maine’s only legal battle with the Trump administration. Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit against the state over allowing boys to compete in girls sports and use their locker rooms.
“They must not be reading the same Title IX we’re reading,” Bondi said.
Maine Democratic Attorney General Aaron Frey said his office was pleased with the funding freeze resolution and that his state would now continue to receive money “to feed children and vulnerable adults.”
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“It’s unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations,” Frey said.
The USDA did not respond to a request for comment.