The United States Supreme Court has blocked an effort by the Biden administration to enforce parts of a new rule that would have extended protections against discrimination to transgender students under Title IX. This decision, made on Friday, prevents male athletes who identify as female from using female locker rooms and bathrooms in schools across 10 states, as legal battles continue.
The case centers around a rule introduced by the Biden administration in April 2024. This rule sought to expand the protections provided under Title IX, a landmark law that has prohibited sex discrimination in education for over 50 years.
The new rule aimed to include protections for LGBTQ students by broadening the definition of sex discrimination to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. This would have allowed transgender students to use facilities that align with their gender identity.
The rule officially took effect on August 1, 2024. However, it has faced strong opposition and legal challenges in several states, leading to a patchwork of enforcement across the country. While the rule is in effect in some states, it has been blocked in 26 others due to ongoing court cases.
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling stems from two major cases brought by a group of Republican-led states. The first case involved Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho, along with the Louisiana Department of Education.
The second case was filed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia. These states argued that the new rule would cause significant disruption in schools and could harm students and families.
In June, federal district courts in Louisiana and Kentucky sided with the states, finding that they were likely to succeed in their lawsuits.
As a result, these courts issued orders blocking the enforcement of the rule in the 10 states involved in the litigation. The Biden administration, seeking to enforce parts of the rule that were not directly challenged, appealed to federal appeals courts. However, both appeals courts refused to lift the block.
When the issue reached the Supreme Court, the government argued that only specific provisions related to gender identity and sexual orientation should be blocked, allowing the rest of the rule to be implemented.
However, the Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the provisions in question were too intertwined with the rest of the rule to be separated. Therefore, the entire rule remains blocked in the states involved.
The Supreme Court’s decision means that schools in these 10 states are not required to allow transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity. The court noted that all justices agreed on blocking the key parts of the rule that redefined sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
