A federal judge in Kentucky on Thursday struck down President Biden’s effort to expand protections for transgender students and make other changes to the rules governing sex discrimination in schools, ruling that the Education Department had overstepped and violated teachers’ rights by requiring them to use students’ preferred pronouns.The ruling, which extends nationwide, came as a major blow to the Biden administration in its effort to provide new safeguards for L.G.B.T.Q. and pregnant students, among others, through the law known as Title IX. It arrived just days before those protections were likely to face more scrutiny under a Trump administration that is expected to be hostile to the new rules and could refuse to defend them in court.
In a 15-page opinion, Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky wrote that the Education Department could not lawfully expand the definition of Title IX to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, as it had proposed last year.
“The entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex,” he wrote. “Throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless.”
Citing the Supreme Court’s sweeping decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo last year, which limited the regulatory power of federal agencies, Judge Reeves wrote that the Biden administration had overstepped when it sought to enforce its new interpretation of Title IX through federal rule-making.
But more significantly, the judge also rejected the revised rule on free-speech grounds, writing that it “offends the First Amendment” by potentially requiring educators to use names and pronouns associated with a student’s chosen gender identity.
Lastly, he firmly rejected the Education Department’s position that the protections for gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination established in a landmark 2020 Supreme Court case should also apply in schools.
“This is a colossal win for women and girls across the country,” said Kristen Waggoner, the chief executive of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal group that joined the states suing the Education Department. “The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety and privacy for female students out the window; it also threatened free speech and parental rights.”
Source: Judge Rejects Biden’s Title IX Rules, Scrapping Protections for Trans Students – The New York Times