On June 9, 2025, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a pre-enforcement lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in anticipation of legal retaliation targeting the state’s school systems. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, follows a June 2, 2025, letter from DOJ demanding that local school districts certify that they will not enforce a California anti-discrimination law allowing K-12 students to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity. California has refused to comply, arguing that doing so would violate both state law and the U.S. Constitution. Bonta is seeking a court ruling to uphold the state’s protections and to block the federal government from taking retaliatory action, including withholding or conditioning federal funding based on noncompliance.

Recognizing that sports participation teaches children important values like teamwork and resilience, California policymakers have long ensured that all students—including transgender students—can join in athletics activities. Since 2012, California law has protected all students from discrimination based on gender identity or expression. In 2013, these protections were explicitly extended to school athletics, and the California Interscholastic Federation adopted Bylaw 300.D, affirming the right of students to participate in sports according to their gender identity. DOJ now claims this policy unlawfully requires “male participation in girls’ interscholastic athletics,” asserting that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Attorney General Bonta argues that DOJ has no authority to demand the invalidation of Bylaw 300.D. Prevailing Ninth Circuit precedent affirms that excluding transgender students from athletics is unconstitutional discrimination that violates the Equal Protection Clause. California maintains that providing an inclusive environment, including participation in sports aligned with gender identity, is essential to student well-being and squarely within the state’s rights.

The President and his administration are demanding that California school districts break the law and violate the Constitution – or face legal retaliation. They’re demanding that our schools discriminate against the students in their care and deny their constitutionally protected rights. As we’ve proven time and again in court, just because the President disagrees with a law, that doesn’t make it any less of one. As California’s chief legal officer, I’ll always fight to uphold and defend the laws of our state, especially those that protect and ensure the civil rights of the most vulnerable among us. Attorney General Rob Bonta