Texas, 8 other states sue Biden admin over ‘illegal’ Title IX ‘rewrite’

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit Monday aimed at what he calls the Biden administration’s attempt to “rewrite” Title IX.

“Texas will not allow Joe Biden to rewrite Title IX at whim, destroying legal protections for women in furtherance of his radical obsession with gender ideology,” Paxton said in a statement.

“This attempt to subvert federal law is plainly illegal, undemocratic, and divorced from reality,” he argued. “Texas will always take the lead to oppose Biden’s extremist, destructive policies that put women at risk.”

In April, the Biden Administration issued new rules it said were necessary to clarify the existing 1972 Title IX law and how it should be applied. These new rules essentially codify the administration’s 2021 Title IX guidance, which includes “gender identity” in the definition of sex discrimination. 

The new rules make it illegal to require students and faculty to use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological sex, or to prohibit them from using so-called “preferred” pronouns. It does stop short, however, of specifically addressing the issue of transgender student athletes, and on which teams they may participate. That update was reportedly expected in March but has been delayed. 

Also on Monday, eight other state attorneys general announced similar lawsuits. 

AGs for Louisianna, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho announced their suit, saying the administration overstepped its authority by trying to redefine the term “sex” by including gender identity to advance its progressive agenda. 

“This is all for a political agenda, ignoring significant safety concerns for young women students in pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across Louisiana and the entire country,” Louisianna Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. 

Monday, Florida joined Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, in filing a similar lawsuit, along with conservative groups Parents Defending Education, Independent Women’s Forum and Speech First. 

“BREAKING: @DefendingEd, @IWF, @Speech_First, and the states of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina just filed a landmark lawsuit against the Biden Administration over their illegal Title IX rewrite,” Nicki Neily, founder of Parents Defending Education, commented on X. 

“The role of Cabinet agencies is to interpret laws as written by Congress – not to redefine the meaning of words to suit a fringe group of activists,” she continued.