Federal Judge Blocks Biden's Rule Protecting LGBT Students in Four States

A federal judge in Louisiana blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a rule that protects LGBT students from discrimination based on gender identity in schools and colleges. The ruling applies to Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho, arguing it subverts Title IX's original purpose of protecting women from discrimination.

A federal judge in Louisiana on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden's administration from enforcing a new rule in four states that protects LGBT students from discrimination based on their gender identity in schools and colleges. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe issued a preliminary injunction barring a U.S. Department of Education rule that extended sex discrimination protections under Title IX to LGBT students from taking effect in the Republican-led states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.

Those states had argued that unless the rule was blocked, schools would be required to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms conforming to their gender identities. "Enacting the changes in the final rule would subvert the original purpose of Title IX: protecting biological females from discrimination," Doughty, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, wrote.

The ruling was the first nationally by a judge blocking the rule, which had been challenged in a series of lawsuits by Republican-led states and conservative activists who argued it amounted to an unlawful rewrite of a civil rights law designed to protect women from discrimination. "This is a big win for women's rights," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a Republican, said in a statement. "This decision will keep young women and girls protected from dangerous situations, just as Title IX has done for decades."

The other lawsuits remain pending. The rule is set to take effect Aug. 1. The Education Department did not respond to a request for comment. The department in issuing the rule in April said it clarified that the prohibition against sex-based discrimination in schools and colleges that receive federal funding contained in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 also includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The department cited a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that a ban against sex discrimination in the workplace contained in a different law, Title VII, covered gay and transgender workers. Courts often rely on interpretations of Title VII when analyzing Title IX as both laws bar discrimination on the basis of sex.

But Doughty agreed with the Republican state attorneys general of Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho that Congress did not clearly authorize the department to enact the rule and that it likely also violated the U.S. Constitution's Spending Clause and the First Amendment. He said the rule was "inconsistent with the text, structure, and purpose of Title IX."

He said the rule would have required schools to use whatever pronouns a student preferred and allow them to access bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity, an issue of political significance the agency lacked authority to address.

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