The ancient Greek scientist Archimedes is said to have boasted,” Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world. President Donald Trump’s motto should be, “Give me a wedge and an audience, and I will cleave society in two.”

A “wedge” issue is a highly divisive political or social issue, one which tends to undermine societal consensus and replace it with an “us-versus-them” tribal mentality. The issue itself doesn’t have to be a particularly impactful one. It just has to be emotionally charged.

For Trump, the entry of transgender females into interscholastic athletics has become the quintessential wedge, notwithstanding that it involves only a miniscule number of participants and its impact on competitive sports is unclear.

Trump drove that home during a White House conference with the nation’s governors in February, when he singled out Maine Gov. Janet Mills, asking her pointedly whether she was going to comply with his recent Executive Order defining sex as “an individual’s immutable biological classification” and requiring federal agencies to enforce laws governing sex-based rights “to protect men and women as biologically distinct sexes.”

“I’m complying with state and federal laws,” Mills replied.

“You’d better comply,” Trump warned. “Otherwise, you’re not getting any federal funding.”

“We’ll see you in court,” the governor fired back.

Shortly afterward the federal government, in apparent retaliation, launched an “investigation” into whether Maine was violating Title IX, a statute which prohibits schools that receive federal funds from discriminating in its programs and activities on the basis of sex.

On Feb. 25, Trump’s newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Mills warning of the consequences of Maine schools “denying girls an equal opportunity to participate in sports and athletic events” by allowing transgender girls to compete. The same day the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared Maine in violation of Title IX.

On the basis of that finding, federal agencies subsequently suspended, then abruptly restored, federal grants for two major state programs, a $4.5 million Maine Sea Grant and $56 million in funding for the University of Maine System.

Mills wasn’t just standing up to Trump’s bullying at the White House conference. She was stating fact. She is obliged to comply with existing federal and state laws, at least until the laws change or the courts tell her otherwise, regardless of a Presidential Executive Order.

The Maine Human Rights Act mandates equal access to places of public accommodation, including schools, and prohibits discrimination not only on the basis of sex but on the basis of gender identity (defined as the “gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s assigned sex at birth”).

Title IX prohibits discrimination “on the basis of “sex” but doesn’t address whether that covers transgender sexuality, and the Supreme Court has not yet weighed in on the issue. Trump’s Executive Order cannot create new law where Title IX is silent. Only Congress can.

All this portends a long legal battle, but it’s a battle that should take place in the courts, not the political arena.

This country is facing numerous existential threats to its security, stability and prosperity – Chinese and Russian expansionism, brewing trade wars, climate change, new contagious diseases, nuclear proliferation, dizzying technological change, international and domestic extremism, massive digital disinformation, undeclared cyberwarfare, and high-level political corruption, just to name a few. I just don’t see transgender participation in sports being one of them.

Because of privacy laws, it’s difficult to know how many transgender athletes actually compete in interscholastic sports, but the number is probably miniscule.

In December 2024, NCAA President Charlie Baker told a Senate panel that he was aware of fewer than 10 transgender athletes among the more than 500,000 students who participate in intercollegiate sports at over 1,000 colleges and universities across the country. Guestimates for the number of those in middle and high school sports are similarly low.

Moreover, the impact these transgender athletes may have on either sports competition or safety is still largely unknown.

In a PBS news interview last March, Dr. Bradley Anawalt, an endocrinologist and professor at the University of Washington, opined that there was still insufficient scientific evidence to determine whether biological men, who transgender to women, possess a competitive advantage over their female counterparts.

According to Anawalt, the data is very limited and based primarily on a 2023 study as to how well new military recruits initially performed in timed sit-ups and a 1.5 mile run versus their annual performance in those exercises over several years of hormone therapy. And that data doesn’t necessarily measure athletic prowess, where many other factors, such as agility, quick reflexes, intelligence, competitive drive, and physical stature, come into play. (Think Caitlin Clark or Cooper Flagg).

Wedge issues only work to divide us if we allow them to. Like the governor, I’m for letting the courts sort this one out.

Elliott Epstein is a trial lawyer with Shukie & Segovias in Lewiston. His Rearview Mirror column, which has appeared in the Sun Journal for 18 years, analyzes current events in an historical context. He is also the author of “Lucifer’s Child,” a book about the notorious 1984 child murder of Angela Palmer. He may be contacted at [email protected]