U.S. Supreme Court holds block of Title IX gender/athletics, for lower courts’ decisions

By Mark Maynard
Kentucky Today

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Republican attorneys general to keep blocking the Biden-Harris administration’s changes to Title IX, which would have curtailed opportunities for women and girls in education.

The ruling from the high court marks the latest major defeat for the Biden-Harris administration’s attempt to redefine sex to include “gender identity” and “sex characteristics.”

The Supreme Court unanimously agreed to continue blocking key aspects of the rule, which would have taken effect Aug. 1. A 5-4 majority voted to prevent the entire rule from taking effect. conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joined with the court’s three liberals in a partial dissent.

The justices consolidated two challenges to the Biden administration’s rule, including Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s challenge with Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and four other states in April that was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the District Court’s ruling as to all parts of the rule.

“We went to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend equal opportunities for Kentucky’s women and young girls. At its core, this is a fight for common sense itself. And we’ve won at every level of our judicial system,” Coleman said. “The Biden-Harris Administration is threatening to rip away 50 years of Title IX protections. Together with our colleagues in Tennessee and four other states, we are fighting to uphold the promise of Title IX for generations to come.”

The court fights before the Supreme Court involved two groups of states that challenged three provisions of the rule: The first recognizes that Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination covers gender identity; the second broadens the definition of “hostile-environment harassment” to include harassment based on gender identity; and the third clarifies that a school violates Title IX when it prohibits transgender students from using restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity.

One case was brought by four states – Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho – as well as the Louisiana Department of Education. The second was filed by six states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia.

Had it taken effect, the Biden-Harris administration’s rule would have required K-12 schools, colleges and universities to allow males identifying as females to access women’s sports, bathrooms and locker rooms. Schools failing to comply with the federal rule – even if they followed state law – would have risked losing federal education funding. Last year, public and private schools across Kentucky received a total of $1.1 billion in U.S. Department of Education funding.

In the ruling, the high court said the Biden administration had “not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the lower courts’” finding that the challenged gender identity and sex discrimination protections were “intertwined with and affect other provisions of the rule.

”Four of the nine justices would have let part of the rules take effect, according to the order, but all members of the court agreed the key disputed changes, including the new definition of “sex discrimination” to include “gender identity” and the restrictions on same-sex spaces, could remain blocked.

State Sen. Robby Mills reacted favorably to the ruling, saying in a statement: “Today, common sense and Kentucky values prevailed.”

“This procedural ruling directly condemns the woke ideology promoted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Biden-Harris Administration. I thank Attorney General Russell Coleman for successfully defending Kentucky’s duly enacted law.”

The Education Department said it still supports its rule but will continue to fight.

“While we do not agree with this ruling, the Department stands by the final Title IX regulations released in April 2024, and we will continue to defend those rules in the expedited litigation in the lower courts,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.

Read the Supreme Court order.

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