The Biden administration has requested the Supreme Court’s intervention to temporarily halt the enforcement of portions of federal trial court orders from Louisiana and Kentucky that prevent the Department of Education from implementing an April 2024 rule tied to Title IX. This rule, among other things, prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. These lawsuits, initiated by multiple states, target three provisions of the rule, particularly those focusing on transgender rights.
The challenged provisions of the 2024 rule hold that Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination includes gender identity-based discrimination, mandate that schools allow transgender individuals to use facilities corresponding to their gender identity, and expand the definition of “hostile-environment harassment” to include harassment on the basis of gender identity.
In June, the district courts issued injunctions preventing the Department of Education from enforcing the rule in the challenging states. Subsequent appeals by the federal government to allow the rule’s enforcement were denied by federal appeals courts in New Orleans and Cincinnati, except for the provisions directly linked to transgender discrimination claims.
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar has argued that the 2024 rule is a comprehensive regulation addressing various issues, many unrelated to gender identity, and that the district courts’ broad injunctions unjustifiably impede the enforcement of provisions not contested by the states. The administration contends that these court orders are overly broad and cause significant implications by obstructing regulations meant to stand independently.
Additional challenges to the 2024 rule are underway in other states, including Texas, Kansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Missouri. For more information, you can read the detailed account on SCOTUSblog.