The White House Press Secretary said Wednesday there is a federal lawsuit against the state of Maine, but no such lawsuit exists.
The U.S. Department of Education has sued the state of Maine, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a media briefing Wednesday afternoon.
“As you know, there’s ongoing litigation,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt was referring instead to a Title IX investigation from the U.S. Department of Education into the Maine Department of Education and a southern Maine school district, a White House spokesperson said.
There are no lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Education against the state of Maine filed in federal court in Maine or Washington, D.C., as of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday.
There are three cases in Maine related to Title IX, the 1972 law barring sex-based discrimination in schools. On Feb. 21, the U.S. Department of Education said it was investigating Maine and the Greely school district for violating Title IX. The University of Maine System is facing a review from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. On Feb. 22, the University of Maine drew a similar review from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Leavitt’s answer came in response to a question about the White House’s next move to “protect the integrity of women’s sports.”
“The President has made a commitment to ensure that states are being held accountable if they continue to allow men in women’s sports, which he believes is an egregious violation of taxpayer dollars,” Leavitt said in her response.
