California hit with Justice Department probe of transgender athlete policy

The Justice Department has joined the federal investigation into whether California violated federal law by allowing male-born athletes to compete in girls’ scholastic sports, raising the stakes ahead of this weekend’s high school track championships.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the DOJ Office of Civil Rights “will work in coordination” with the Department of Education, which launched a Title IX probe in February into the California Interscholastic Federation’s transgender-eligibility policy.

Ms. Dhillon cited the case of transgender student AB Hernandez, a Jurupa Valley High School track star who is favored to win the girls’ long jump and triple jump at the CIF state track and field championships scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

“In light of this alarming news and the other two ongoing investigations, I have directed my office to join US ED’s investigation into CIF,” said Ms. Dhillon in a letter to the federation. 

“Additionally, I have directed my office and the office of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California to review this matter to determine whether the actions of CIF, CA ED, the Jurupa Unified School District, and any applicable state laws, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” she wrote.

The department also said that it has filed a “statement of interest” in Save Girls’ Sports v. Thurmond on behalf of female athletes who sued the state for allowing biological males in girls’ sports. 

“The law is clear: Discrimination on the basis of sex is illegal and immoral,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in a statement. “My office and the rest of the Department of Justice will work tirelessly to protect girls’ sports and stop anyone – public officials included – from violating women’s civil rights.”

The announcement came a day after President Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California for allowing male-born athletes to compete in girls’ sports based on gender identity.

A 2013 state law known as Assembly Bill 1266 requires schools to allow students to participate in activities based on gender identity, not biological sex.

The DOJ investigation seeks to determine “whether Title IX, a landmark federal civil rights law, is being violated by AB 1266, a state law permitting males to participate on female sports teams at state schools.”

The federation sought to expand the field Tuesday by saying it has invited any “biological female student-athlete” who missed qualifying for the state championships by one slot.