A federal judge in Kentucky ruled that the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations expanding protections for LGBTQ+ youth were invalidated nationwide. The rules overstepped President Biden’s authority.
Danny C. Reeves, a U.S. district judge in New York, ruled Thursday that the entire 1,500-page regulation was invalidated because it had “fatal” legal flaws. After a wave of legal challenges from Republican states, the rule was already halted in over 26 states.
Donald Trump, the president-elect, had previously pledged to abolish rules “on day 1” and anti-transgender themes were a central theme of his campaign.
The court’s decision was in response to a suit filed by Tennessee and Kentucky as well as Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said it was a rejection of the Biden Administration’s “relentless effort to impose an extreme gender ideology.”
Skrmetti stated in a press release that “because the Biden rule has been vacated, President Trump can take a new look at Title IX regulations” when he returns.
The Education Department has not yet commented on this decision.
When the Biden administration finalized new rules in 2013, it sparked controversy. The regulation extended Title IX – a 1972 law prohibiting discrimination in education based upon sex – to prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexuality. The definition of harassment was also expanded to cover a wider range of conduct.
Civil rights activists hailed the decision as a win, stating that it gives LGBTQ+ students a new way to fight discrimination. Conservatives, however, were outraged by the decision. They said that it could be used as a way to protect transgender girls in sports.
The rule did not specifically address athletics but rather detailed how colleges and schools were to handle cases of sexual assault and discrimination. The proposal to deal with transgender sports athletes was put on hold and then revoked when it became the focus of Trump’s election campaign.
Reeves ruled that the Education Department had overstepped its powers by expanding Title IX.
Reeves wrote that the 1972 law does not suggest it should be expanded to cover more than what it already covers. He said it was an attempt to “bypass the legislative process and transform Title IX completely.”
The judge found that the requirement for teachers to use pronouns in line with their students’ gender identity violated their right to free speech.
Reeves wrote: “The First Amendment prohibits the government from limiting speech or forcing affirmation of a belief that the speaker does not agree with in this way.”
Reeves, rather than removing certain parts of the rule from the regulations, decided that it would be better to throw out the entire regulation and return to an earlier interpretation of Title IX. He stated that his decision would “cause a simple return to the status quo” which existed more than 50 years before its effective date.
Betsy DeVos was one of the most vocal critics of this rule. She served as the former Education Secretary during Trump’s initial term. She wrote on the social media website X that “the radical, unfair, illegal and absurd Biden Title IX rewrite is GONE.”
Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, stated that Biden’s Rule “betrayed Title IX’s original intent by removing the longstanding protections which ensured the fairness of women and girls.”
Cassidy stated in a press release, “With President Trump and the Republican majority in Congress we will ensure that women and girls have the best opportunity to succeed in the classroom and on the field.”