Saint Paul, MN – Today, Representative Finke (DFL-Saint Paul) was honored to join AG Keith Ellison to announce that his office has filed a federal lawsuit to "stop President Donald Trump and his administration from bullying vulnerable children in this state.”
The lawsuit comes as the Trump Administration has repeatedly threatened Minnesota with the loss of federal funding for Minnesota schools unless Minnesota complies with two executive orders to ban transgender children from playing school sports and to broadly deny the civil rights of transgender people.
Representative Leigh Finke, Minnesota's first elected trans woman in the Minnesota Legislature, stood proudly with Attorney General Keith Ellison and provided the following statement:
"This lawsuit is not just about sports, and the rights of trans athletes to play—it is about the most fundamental human right: the right to choose our own lives. This is about freedom—our freedom, and yours. The Trump Administration's campaign against trans and queer people, especially trans women and girls, is just one facet of a broader assault on human dignity. From separating immigrant families and confining them in foreign prison camps to systematically targeting vulnerable trans children for erasure from public life, these actions follow a historic pattern of authoritarian violence that threatens the foundations of our inclusive society and state we worked collectively to build- together.
Minnesota, however, has chosen a different path—one of inclusion, dignity, and compassion. We refuse to bow to cruelty. We will not retreat in the face of bigotry. Instead, we advance with both love and justice as our guides, building a state that welcomes, affirms and protects every person who calls it home."
She further adds a direct message to President Donald Trump, AG Pam Bondi, and all who stand behind this campaign of trans eradication:
"Trans, nonbinary, and two-spirit people have always existed. We will always exist. Across every culture, every continent, throughout all of history—trans people have been here, and we will continue to be here. No law, no policy, no hate-fueled campaign will ever change that. So, we ask you, please, stop trying."
This afternoon, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison released the following statement:
"Trump's unconscionable attack on this small number of vulnerable children is bullying, plain and simple. His burning desire to destroy trans kids and punish us for helping them live and thrive isn't just a violation of the law — it's a violation of Minnesota values. I've been around my share of bullies in my life, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you don't give bullies an inch. We're not going to cave at the expense of trans kids — or any vulnerable community that needs our compassion and protection.
Sometimes countries face a moment like this — faced with a leader bent on destroying entire communities and instilling fear in those who protect them. The lessons of history tell us a leader like that doesn't stop at one community — after he's destroyed one, he goes after another, and another, and another.
These are the moments when you have to say 'no' — especially if the community the leader wants to destroy is children just trying to live their lives. We're in that moment right now in America. I have the power to say 'no.' Today, I'm using it."
In the lawsuit, Attorney General Ellison lays out four causes of action against two Trump executive orders — the “Gender Ideology Order” and the “Sports Ban Order” — and U.S. Department of Justice letters to Minnesota. Those letters threaten to cut federal funding to Minnesota schools and take legal action if the Attorney General does not reverse his formal opinion on Minnesota law. The claims are:
- The executive orders and DOJ letters violate the separation of powers in the U.S. constitution by exceeding the President’s powers and usurping Congress’s exclusive powers to legislate, noting among other points that “the Constitution does not authorize the Executive Branch to override Congress based on the President’s policy preferences;”
- The President and the Administration not only have no authority under Title IX to rescind federal funding from Minnesota schools because Minnesota law allows transgender women and girls to participate on sports teams that align with their gender identity, but they violate Title IX by doing so;
- The Trump Administration’s attempt to force Attorney General Ellison to revise or rescind his February 2025 binding legal opinion, which states that the President’s “Sports Ban Order” does not have the force of law or supersede state-based legal protections for transgender children, violates the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the federal government from commandeering the States to carry out federal law or policy; and
- The DOJ letters violate the Administrative Procedure Act, because they are in conflict with Title IX and rely on unauthorized executive orders, and because they are arbitrary and capricious.
###