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Federal Court Strikes Down Biden's 2024 Title IX Rewrite on Gender Identity Nationwide

Jan 12, 2025, 03:20 PM

A federal court in Kentucky has invalidated the Biden administration's 2024 Title IX regulations, which sought to expand protections under the civil rights law to include gender identity and sexual orientation. U.S. District Chief Judge Danny Reeves ruled in the case of Tennessee v. Cardona that the Department of Education exceeded its statutory authority and violated the Constitution, including the First Amendment, by requiring schools to adopt policies such as using students' preferred pronouns. The ruling, which applies nationwide, vacates the Biden administration’s 1,500-page rewrite of Title IX, effectively reverting to the 2020 rules. The court found the changes to be "arbitrary and capricious," stating that the reinterpretation of "on the basis of sex" to include gender identity undermines the law's original intent to prevent sex-based discrimination. The Biden administration had argued that the changes were necessary to promote educational equity, but critics, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, contended that they threatened privacy, safety, and fairness for women and girls. The decision, which follows temporary injunctions in 26 states, has been celebrated by Republican-led states and advocacy groups as a victory for women’s rights and free speech. Kristen Waggoner of the Alliance Defending Freedom called the ruling a "colossal win for women and girls." The Department of Education has not indicated whether it plans to appeal the ruling. The court also noted that the administration's reliance on the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County was misplaced, as the case was limited to Title VII and did not address Title IX contexts.