A federal judge has dismissed most of the claims Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison brought against the Trump administration over its interpretation of Title IX. According to Politico, Minnesota is currently the only state challenging in court the Trump administration’s executive orders defining sex as biological and restricting biological men and boys from competing in women’s sports.
In his 44-page ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud rejected Minnesota’s claims under the Administrative Procedure Act and the Tenth Amendment. He found that Minnesota had not plausibly alleged final agency action, while separately concluding that its Tenth Amendment claim failed on the merits.
Tostrud also cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. B.P.J., which held that Title IX allows schools to maintain separate women’s and men’s sports teams based on biological sex. Minnesota law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, but Tostrud treated the state-law protections and the federal Title IX requirements as separate legal questions.
He did, however, allow Minnesota’s Spending Clause claim to proceed. The claim argues that the state was not adequately warned that its Title IX policies could jeopardize federal education funding. Ellison said he was “pleased” this claim will move forward and that he looks “forward to proving in court that the President violated the Constitution.”
Title IX MN, which launched in 2025, spent months collecting signatures from more than 300 Minnesota school board members, who urged state officials and the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) to bring its eligibility policies into compliance with federal Title IX to protect funding.
Make It Fair MN, a new companion campaign, is informing Minnesota schools that they can change sports policy “without waiting for another legislative session, another election, or years of additional litigation.”
The MSHSL has allowed transgender students to participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identity since 2014, when its board adopted the policy. Make It Fair MN contends that the policy was adopted by the MSHSL board rather than through a vote of the League’s member schools. Under MSHSL’s constitution, the 509 member schools can propose and vote on bylaw amendments through two appointed representatives. Make It Fair MN has circulated a proposed amendment that would define eligibility for sex-separated sports based on biological sex at birth. The change, according to the group, could also address issues raised in the Title IX lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against the Minnesota Department of Education and MSHSL.
The success of the proposed amendment depends on action by MSHSL member schools and their representatives. Such action to change policy, Make It Fair MN says, would restore “equal protection and fair competition” in Minnesota school sports.