As federal courts issue temporary injunctions against the enforcement of the Biden Administration’s Title IX regulations, experts attribute this trend to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Chevron deference. This principle previously afforded federal agencies significant leeway in interpreting their own regulations. The case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, decided in late June, officially eliminated this judicial deference.
Kathryn Johnson, a professor at Brooklyn College, noted, “The fact that the Chevron challenge was pending during the briefing cycle, in effect, robbed the Department of Education of the ability to rely on Chevron in its briefs, which I think was important and made the department’s case weaker than it otherwise would have been.”
The states challenging the final version of Title IX regulations argued that the agency overstepped its power, and experts believe the absence of Chevron deference significantly influenced the courts’ favorable rulings for the challengers. This underlying shift in legal standards is expected to have far-reaching implications for federal agency power.