The states argue that, without a preliminary injunction, female athletes are “forced to compete against biological males and are thus deprived of Title IX protections.”
Asked about the brief, Brian Evans, a spokesman for the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, said in a statement that the accusations are “nothing more than a rehash of the far-right's typical scaremongering and dressing up of children as scapegoats for amicus briefs.”
“It's a disgrace to the residents of these 19 states that their attorneys general are bullying vulnerable children to score cheap political points instead of helping people in need,” Evans said, adding that the court filing would have no impact on the lawsuit and was “irrelevant.”
The Iowa attorney general's filing was signed by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. All states except Kansas have Republican governors.
The brief comes after the Trump administration found Minnesota's MSHSL policy violated Title IX and federal officials ordered the state to make changes within 10 days. The deadline passed last week with no noticeable impact – although the state told the government in a letter criticizing the inquiry that it would not make a “substantial response” to their requests due to a lack of clarity and the federal government shutdown.
“As you know,” Minnesota Deputy Attorney General Liz Cramer wrote, “if the federal government intends to comply with the law, it will need to follow an extensive, multi-step administrative process before terminating any federal funding for education programs or activities in Minnesota.”