Title IX is the landmark legislation of 1972 that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities receiving federal funds. It had been expanded by Joe Biden’s Department of Education to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, paving the way for gender-confused males to compete on the sports teams of girls and women and to occupy their public spaces like restrooms and locker rooms.
U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, of Kentucky’s Northern District, balked at the entire 1,500-page rewrite, finding it to be filled with legal problems.
The rewrite had been set to take effect last Aug. 1 but was already in limbo after challenges from 26 Republican-led states. Reeves’ decision is in response to a lawsuit filed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
Conservatives giving a thumbs-up
Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council, on Washington Watch Thursday reacted to the judge's decision.
“The judge said that the rule – as the Biden administration had conceived it – was unconstitutional, that it compelled speech, that it overstepped the bounds that were allowed to the department in terms of writing a rule like this. It was a short but a really thorough ruling,” she stated.
In addition to the public spaces demands, the rewrite required teachers to use students’ "preferred pronouns."
Kilgannon told show host Tony Perkins the clock is ticking on a response from the administration. Thursday was a day of mourning for the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, and government offices were closed. There’s been no word on the next steps, if any, by the administration.
“I suppose they could appeal to the Supreme Court. I think they don’t have time to do that obviously, and I think that would be a dangerous thing for them to do. Hopefully we will just see the rule withdrawn,” Kilgannon offered.
Conservatives celebrated the decision.
“The court's ruling is yet another repudiation of the Biden administration's relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology through unconstitutional and illegal rulemaking,” Tennessee Attorney Gen. Jonathan Skrmetti wrote on X.
“The Biden admin lost its way on Title IX. They betrayed the intent of Title IX by removing protections for women & girls. Happy this bad rule was overturned. With President Trump & a GOP majority, we'll ensure women & girls can succeed on the field & in the classroom,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) wrote on X.
Red states not immune
"Since Joe Biden took office, he has been working to change the definition of 'sex' to mean 'gender identity' – and they did that with this Biden Title IX rewrite. We filed lawsuits, lots of other people filed lawsuits; 26 states filed lawsuits. Every court has said it's unconstitutional and unlawful, and [this ruling gives] parents, students, and teachers relief from this radical ideology." Kimberly Hermann, executive director |
If the Reeves ruling is indeed the end of the road for Biden’s Title IX, the work isn’t done. Focus should now shift to protections for girls and women at the state and local levels, Kilgannon advised, pointing out that 24 states had not filed legal challenges to the rewrite.
“Sadly, this is happening in about half the country. States like California, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey – they have rules similar to this Title IX rule on their books already. They can be changed in the future, and I think that’s where our movement in the fight to protect children is going to have to focus,” Kilgannon said.
Students, parents and educators, she said, need to be on guard in red states too where there are pockets of liberal influence.
“We need to make sure we are rooting this out of our own states," Kilgannon urged. "In plenty of red states and school districts in red states there are policies like these. Children are being harmed by them, and teachers are being forced to enforce them.
"We have to make sure we are continuing to fight this ideology … because it’s not rooted out yet,” she concluded.
