President Joe Biden speaks at the grand opening ceremony for the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, Friday, June 28, 2024, in New York. A federal judge in Kansas temporarily blocked the Department of Education’s Title IX rewrite in four states, marking the third straight court loss by the administration as it struggles to defend its final rule adding “gender identity” to the landmark act against sex discrimination in education.
The Biden administration was hit with at least a half-dozen lawsuits after releasing in April its updated Title IX rule, which also rolled back the Trump administration’s regulations on sexual harassment cases on campus. In his order Tuesday, Judge Broomes said the plaintiffs were likely to prevail, noting that the “legislative history shows that Congress was concerned about the unequal treatment between men and women for admissions opportunities, scholarships, and sports.”
“Rather, Defendants argue that this makes no difference because discrimination on the basis of gender identity is discrimination on the basis of biological sex,” he said. “Therefore, the final regulation is not contrary to Title IX.”The federal court’s ruling halts the Title IX changes from taking effect while the lawsuit State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education continues.