Federal Judge Overturns Biden’s Protections For Gender Identity In Schools

Topline

A federal judge in Kentucky struck down President Joe Biden’s attempt to expand Title IX to include protections for transgender students—delivering a blow to the Biden administration and LGBTQ community just days before he leaves office.

Key Facts

Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled on Thursday the Education Department could not expand Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.

Reeves wrote in the 15-page ruling that trying to include gender identity in Title IX would “turn [it] on its head” and would render the legislation “largely meaningless.

He ruled the Education Department was exceeding its statutory authority in its attempt to expand the protections.

In April, the Biden administration finalized new rules—that have been facing legal challenges nearly since their introduction—attempting to offer more protections to transgender students against harassment.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

Big Number

26. That’s the number of states where courts had already halted Biden’s changes to Title IX following legal challenges. Reeves’ ruling against Biden’s changes will take effect nationwide.

Key Background

Biden’s changes widened the scope of Title IX—which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex—to prohibit discrimination against people for their gender identity and codify protection to transgender students for the first time. The changes were introduced last April, and at the time Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said they helped clarify “that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.” The changes also offered more legal protections to pregnant students. The Biden administration described the changes—which also tried to add protections for victims of sexual assault, the AP reported—as the “most comprehensive coverage” students will get through Title IX. More than 20 states took legal action against the changes, though, and in mid-August, the Supreme Court blocked the expanded Title IX rules from taking effect in certain states, ruling they did not have to be implemented until legal challenges at lower court levels were resolved.

What Was The Opposition To The Changes?

Some Republican-led states that challenged the changes argued the rules hindered the First Amendment rights of students and staff by requiring them to recognize a person’s preferred gender, and said they would prevent states from enforcing their own laws, including those restricting bathrooms and locker rooms that are available to transgender students. After Thursday’s ruling, the attorney general of Tennessee, one of the states opposing the changes, Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement it was “a huge win for Tennessee, for common sense, and for women and girls across America” and called the changes part of a “relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology through unconstitutional and illegal rulemaking.”

Chief Critic

Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, which advocates against gender inequity said in a statement the decision displayed “extraordinary disregard for students who are most vulnerable to discrimination and are in the most need for federal protections under the Title IX rule.”

Further Reading