from WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Tuesday, June 3rd.

You may have seen in the news that President Trump and his administration are threatening the state of California

with both fines and legal action

after a trans athlete won two gold medals this weekend in the California state track and field

meet, which the New York Times calls arguably the most competitive high school meet in the nation.

Trump posted on truth social on Sunday that, quote, large-scale fines will be

imposed. Then yesterday, his Justice Department sent a letter to California school districts

threatening to sue based on the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The letter said,

quote, forcing girls to compete against males, what they call males, would

deprive them of athletic opportunities and benefits because of their sex, unquote.

The New York Times reports that the California Department of Education is planning to send guidance

today to the state school districts on how to respond.

And that follows changes that the state of California made in advance of the weekend event

because of previous threats from Trump to withdraw funding

and knowing that the particular trans girl, A.B. Hernandez, might do well.

Again, according to the Times, after Mr. Trump's threats last week to cut funding,

the Federation changed its rules regarding how the participation of trans athletes would affect

other competitors in an effort to make the event fair without excluding anyone. Under the new rule,

the athlete who finished immediately behind Ms. Hernandez would be elevated

to share her placement. At the state meet, those athletes shared the podium with Ms. Hernandez,

even though they technically had finished one spot behind her. That's a quote from the New York

Times. We've spoken before here about how the Trump administration seems to be turning the notion

...