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EXCLUSIVE: A legal watchdog founded by a top Trump confidant provided records to Fox News Digital that it says show California lacks standing in its latest lawsuit against the administration.
America First Legal (AFL) filed public records requests with the State of California demanding proof it is being harmed – in a legal sense — by President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring schoolchildren to compete in sports leagues matching their biological sex.
The watchdog – founded by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller – provided letters from an attorney representing the state as well as the California civil rights apparatus, denoting that no records could be found for their multiple inquiries.
California Attorney General Robert Bonta sued the Trump administration in June to block that particular order, numbered EO 14168, and claimed “severe harm” to athletes as a result of it.
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U.S. President Donald Trump signs the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
But the California Civil Rights Department and California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) returned requests to AFL saying no records could be found to document harassment, abuse, or competition outcome discrepancies against transgender athletes.
The California Department of Education was asked as well but did not respond to AFL’s requests.
In its reply, a law firm representing CIF said that based on CIF’s “good faith interpretation of your request, the CIF has determined that it does not have documents responsive to this request” – in direct responses to the harassment-related inquiries as well as an inquiry about “records of competitions won by transgender girls.”
“The CIF is aware of its obligation under Government Code section 7922.600 to assist you in making more focused and effective requests that reasonably describe an identifiable record or records,” the firm wrote to AFL’s Jacob Meckler, further asking him to contact them if he believed any responses were given based on misinterpretation of the original requests.
A formal reply from a records’ custodian for the state Civil Rights Department returned similar verbiage along the lines of lack of responsive documents.
AFL officials told Fox News Digital the response to the open records requests show the state lacks standing and therefore cannot or should not have been able to bring the case against the Trump administration.
“How can the State of California say with a straight face that its transgendered athletes will suffer harm when its own Civil Rights Department ‘does not maintain data’?” AFL vice president Dan Epstein said.
“California’s failure to provide a single responsive record to support the claims in its lawsuit raises serious questions about the state’s ability to prove that any Californians have suffered actual harm,” the watchdog group added in its own statement.
The news undercuts one of the most high-profile legal challenges against the Trump administration, the group said, adding that it further makes the case that California’s actions truly constitute lawfare. The strategy, AFL said, is “collapsing under its own lack of evidence.”
Meanwhile, later Thursday, Bonta responded publicly to a related suit from the Trump administration against California’s permissive policies toward transgender boys in girls sports.
“Based upon today’s reporting, we are aware of the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging California law,” Bonta said.
“Our office remains committed to defending and upholding California laws and the rights of all students, including transgender students, to be free from discrimination and harassment.”
The administration alleged, in a filing in Santa Ana federal court, that CIF engaged in illegal sex discrimination by allowing biological males to compete against females in violation of Title IX.
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“The Governor of California has previously admitted that it is ‘deeply unfair’ to force women and girls to compete with men and boys in competitive sports,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
“But not only is it ‘deeply unfair,’ it is also illegal under federal law. This Department of Justice will continue its fight to protect equal opportunities for women and girls in sports.”
In that case, the feds are seeking declaratory damages as it has also funded the California Department of Education overall to the tune of $44 billion.
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“Title IX was enacted over half a century ago to protect women and girls from discrimination,” added Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
The California Department of Education separately responded to a Fox News inquiry on that front, offering “no comment” citing pending litigation.
