Significant Title IX changes are now on hold in 10 states, including Idaho.
A Louisiana-based federal judge issued a temporary injunction late Thursday. The ruling blocks a Biden administration proposal to extend Title IX — a landmark 1972 federal education law banning discrimination based on sex. The administration’s rewrite would also ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The new policy is scheduled to go into effect on Aug. 1. But now, that is almost certainly not going to happen in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana — the four states covered by Thursday’s injunction. A second injunction, issued Monday, covers six additional states.
Thursday’s injunction marked a first court response to a growing red-state pushback against the Title IX rules. The injunction represents a “tremendous victory,” Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said Friday.
“The new definition of discrimination that includes gender identity would have a profound impact on the advancements Title IX has made for girls and women in our society,” Labrador said. “With a single act, the Biden administration threatened decades of progress and opportunities for females and jeopardized their rights to safety and access within our education system.”
Announced on April 19, the Biden administration’s rules drew almost immediate fire from Republican state officials across the nation. According to Education Week, seven lawsuits have been filed opposing the rules; taken together, those cases cover 26 states.
Idaho’s case went before U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty, an appointee of former President Trump.
Doughty’s ruling does not throw out the new Title IX policies. But in his 40-page ruling, Doughty says he believes the four states are likely to win their case against the feds.
“This case demonstrates the abuse of power by executive federal agencies in the rulemaking process,” Doughty wrote. “The abuse of power by administrative agencies is a threat to democracy.”
A Monday, Kentucky-based U.S. District Court Judge Danny Reeves also put the new policy on hold. This ruling affects Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
