On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department is suing Maine for violations of Title IX because it refuses to protect the competitive integrity of women’s sports, but CNN’s chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid didn’t understand what the big deal was. According to her, the state only has two transgender high school athletes that compete in women’s competitions, but she failed to mention that one of them won a state indoor pole vaulting championship back in February.
Co-host Pamela Brown set the table, “All right, let’s go live now to CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid. Paula, how do we expect Maine to respond to this lawsuit?”
Pole vault competitions weren’t the only things that happened in February, as Reid recalled:
Well, so far, the governor of Maine has made it clear she does not intend to comply with President Trump's order to ban transgender athletes in girls’ sports. So, it is unlikely that this lawsuit is going to change her mind. Now, following that highly publicized confrontation between the governor of Maine and President Trump back in February, where she made it clear she was not going to abide by this executive order and told him, ‘I'll see you in court,’ she has faced a barrage of federal retaliation from various agencies targeting federal funding.
Reid added, “And back in February, the attorney general sent the state a letter saying that it has to comply with this administration's interpretation of Title IX, that federal anti-discrimination law. The state of Maine, though, has made it clear they are not going to do that. So, that has set off litigation, including today's lawsuit.”
Finally getting to the main issue, she argued:
The state of Maine has noted that there are only two transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports in the state. So, there have been questions about why so much, sort of, federal energy and resources have been poured into this specific issue. But, as we know, this is an issue that played out in the election. It's been playing out in states across the country. And today the attorney general said that she is thinking of suing other states that don’t comply.”
The winning women’s score would have tied for tenth in the men’s competition. There is simply no excuse for CNN to omit such critical context. Even The Situation Room’s 10:00 AM Eastern hour MSNBC counterparts managed to point out the DOJ’s pole vaulter evidence.
Here is a transcript for the April 16 show:
CNN The Situation Room4/16/2025
10:05 AM ET
PAMELA BROWN: All right, let’s go live now to CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid. Paula, how do we expect Maine to respond to this lawsuit?
PAULA REID: Well, so far, the governor of Maine has made it clear she does not intend to comply with President Trump's order to ban transgender athletes in girls’ sports. So, it is unlikely that this lawsuit is going to change her mind. Now, following that highly publicized confrontation between the governor of Maine and President Trump back in February, where she made it clear she was not going to abide by this executive order and told him, “I'll see you in court,” she has faced a barrage of federal retaliation from various agencies targeting federal funding.
And back in February, the attorney general sent the state a letter saying that it has to comply with this administration's interpretation of Title IX, that federal anti-discrimination law. The state of Maine, though, has made it clear they are not going to do that. So, that has set off litigation, including today's lawsuit. But the state of Maine has noted that there are only two transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports in the state. So, there have been questions about why so much, sort of, federal energy and resources have been poured into this specific issue. But, as we know, this is an issue that played out in the election. It's been playing out in states across the country. And today the attorney general said that she is thinking of suing other states that don’t comply.
