A federal judge has ordered the Agriculture Department to temporarily release nutrition program funding it was withholding from the state of Maine amid a dispute over transgender athlete policies.
Judge John A Woodcock Jr. of the U.S. District Court for Maine issued a temporary restraining order barring USDA from “freezing, terminating, or otherwise interfering with the state of Maine’s future federal funding for alleged violations of Title IX without complying with the legally required procedure,” which includes notice and a hearing.
The order is the latest development in a lawsuit Maine’s government filed against USDA over the frozen nutrition-related funding. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins alerted Maine Governor Janet Mills to the freeze in a an April 2 letter, in which she alleged violations to Title IX.
The frozen funding includes approximately $97,085 in administrative funds for the Child and Adult Care Food Program, $469,655 in state-level operating expenses, $917,023 in Child Nutrition Technology Innovation Grants, $37,544 in National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance Grants and $592,838 in Farm to School State Formula Grants, according to the order.
Woodcock concluded in his order that the federal government’s actions were “contrary to law,” since it did not provide notice and a hearing prior to freezing the funds under Title IX. "No plausible construction” of the language in Rollins’ letter “could lead to the conclusion that it provided notice or an opportunity to be heard," the judge said.
Woodcock also wrote that while the Title IX noncompliance allegations in Rollins’ letter focused on Maine’s athletic programs, the freezes occurred on funding in food assistance programs. “On the basis of this disconnect, the court concludes the federal defendant’s procedural steps were not in accordance” with the law, he said.
The judge also found Maine had demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm without the temporary injunction, noting that without access to some of the frozen funding, “providers will be forced to cease operations and children (and vulnerable adults) will not be fed.”
A USDA spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge’s order.
In a filing, Maine’s chief deputy attorney general, Christopher Taub, had argued that children were being affected by the freeze. He wrote that “with no funds for state level operating costs Maine’s Child Nutrition Program cannot administer the food programs and children will go hungry.”
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But Shiela Corley, chief of staff for USDA's Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services mission area, said in a court declaration, “With only one possible exception, the programs at issue are not used to purchase food for children.” That exception was $49,188.60 in funding for the Child and Adult Care Food Program “Cash in Lieu” program, which allows participating schools to purchase some foods with cash in lieu of them being donated.
Acting U.S. Attorney Craig Wolff argued in a filing that outside of the “Cash in Lieu” program, the remaining frozen funds were for administrative, technological, equipment and personnel purposes. He also argued that “there is every indication” that Maine could cover any funding shortfalls.
Taub pushed back on Wolff's position that Maine can replace frozen funds with its own money, pointing out that the state's legislature has not allocated money to do so. He added that even if the legislature were to approve additional funding for that purpose, it would not become effective until ninety days after adjournment unless approved with a two-thirds majority.
The judge found Taub’s argument convincing. While the freezes may not have not directly harmed some of Maine’s school food programming, “that does not convince the Court that the federal defendants’ actions to hamper the infrastructure necessary to obtain, organize, transport, distribute, monitor, and account for this food source will not have the same or a similar result,” Woodcock wrote.
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