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Six states and a group of conservative advocacy organizations filed lawsuits Monday to block the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule and accused the Department of Education of acting unlawfully and overreaching.
In two lawsuits filed in Louisiana and Alabama, the plaintiffs argued that several changes to the new rule, which was finalized earlier this month, contradict the text and purpose of Title IX. Specifically, they take issue with the Biden administration’s decision to expand the definition of sex-based discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
The gender-equity law is aimed at protecting students at all levels of federally funded education from sex-based discrimination. The plaintiffs argue that the broader definition will prohibit gender-specific facilities, such as restrooms and locker rooms. They also take issue with changes in the rules that they argue would limit due process for those accused of misconduct.
Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana filed one of the lawsuits along with the Defense of Freedom Institute (DFI), a conservative think tank run by former Trump administration officials. The other lawsuit was brought by Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina along with Independent Women’s Forum, Parents Defending Education and Speech First.
“There is normal federal government overreach—and then there is the final rule: a naked attempt to strongarm our schools into molding our children in the current federal government’s preferred image of how a child should think, act, and speak,” the DFI lawsuit argues. “The final rule is an affront to the dignity of families and school administrators everywhere, and it is nowhere close to legal.”
The new rule will subject plaintiffs to increased costs and regulatory burdens, “exposing them to litigation risk,” according to the DFI lawsuit. Additionally, the regulatory changes conflict with some state laws, the lawsuit claims.
“The rule injures states and their educational agencies by forcing them into a lose-lose situation: (1) comply with an unlawful bureaucratic rewrite of Title IX with which they do not wish to comply or (2) lose billions of dollars of federal funding for their students,” the DFI lawsuit says.
