In major victory for women, girls, federal court tosses Biden Title IX gender rewrite

A United States district court judge ruled President Joe Biden’s reinterpretation of Title IX to encompass gender identity was unconstitutional, arbitrary and exceeded the authority granted the president.

The state of Tennessee sued the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona for attempting to bypass the legislative process and completely transform Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 through sweeping new regulations enacted by executive order.

The executive order, issued by President Joe Biden in March 2021, reinterpreted Title IX’s plain meaning of the term “sex” to include gender identity.

Previously, Title IX of the Civil Rights Act had been used for decades to protect rights of people on the basis of “sex,” not gender, wrote Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky in the 15-page decision, issued on Thursday. 

“[T]he entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex—throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless,” he wrote. 

The judge found nothing in the text or design of Title IX that would allow the word “sex” to be redefined to encompass gender as well.  

Progressives at the DOE were using a recent decision in another case, Bostock v. Clayton County, Ga, which protected LGBTQ people from employment discrimination, “too broadly by importing its holding into the context of Title IX,” the judge also found. 

The judge also said the Biden rule failed on constitutional grounds, violating First Amendment protections in the matter of pronoun usage, and also violating spending provisions by punishing those who don’t comply with the new rule by withholding federal money. 

“Title IX does not unambiguously condition the receipt of funds on the prohibition of gender identity discrimination,” said Reeves. 

In the absence of a clear intent from Congress in Title IX to withhold funds, the DOE’s rule affecting receipt of federal funds is null, said the judge. 

The DOE has been warning colleges and universities that federal funds, including student loans and grants, would be withheld if institutions didn’t follow the policy as outlined in Biden’s executive order and subsequent rulemaking from the DOE. 

Women’s rights advocates are celebrating the ruling. 

Tennessee’s Attorney General called the victory “resounding.”  

“This morning, a federal court ruled in our favor and vacated the Biden admin’s radical new Title IX rule nationwide,” said Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “The court’s order is a resounding victory for the protection of girls’ privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically-accurate pronouns.” 

One Midwestern lawmaker, who tried to overturn the Biden rule legislatively, agreed.  

“Today’s ruling is a massive victory for parents and our daughters as Joe Biden’s Title IX re-write is officially dead,” said Rep. Mary Miller, R-Illinois, in a statement.  

Miller previously sponsored legislation passed in the U.S. House to overturn Biden’s executive order.  

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights and the sanctity of life, said the ruling will have an immediate effect on individual lawsuits where women’s and girls’ rights have been eroded because of the Biden rules.  

“The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights,” said ADF CEO, President, and General Counsel Kristen Waggoner.  

“This ruling provides enormous relief for students across the country,” she added, “including our client who has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team.”