UPDATE: June 28, 2022: The 20 predominantly conservative states suing the U.S. Department of Education over its legal interpretation of Title IX — that the federal anti-discrimination law protects individuals based on their gender identity and sexual orientation — again on Monday asked a federal court to block the agency from enforcing that guidance.
The states, led by Tennessee, filed their lawsuit last year, alleging the interpretation conflicted with the Constitution, federal law and regulatory practices. They argued the department had overextended the intent of Title IX, which protects against sex-based discrimination in colleges and K-12 schools. The states in September requested a federal court enforce a preliminary injunction against the Education Department’s policy, which it released in June 2021.
In new court filings Monday, the states again pressed the court to restrict the Education Department’s policy, an action they said is necessary to shield their citizens from “continued federal threats.” They cited the Education Department’s draft regulation on Title IX it issued last week, which would expand the scope of sexual misconduct cases colleges would be required to investigate and would offer new safeguards for LGBTQ students.
The states said the department is relying on the legal interpretation to support the new regulatory proposal.
Dive Brief:
- Twenty predominantly conservative states sued the U.S. Department of Education this week, seeking to overturn its interpretation that gay and transgender people are protected under the federal law banning sex-based discrimination in schools.
- The states, led by Tennessee, said in court filings that the department's interpretation of Title IX runs afoul of federal law, regulatory processes, and the Constitution.
- They also took aim at recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stating employers must accommodate LGBTQ workers on certain issues, including their preferred restrooms and pronouns.
Dive Insight:
One of President Joe Biden's first executive orders affirmed that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected classes under federal sex discrimination laws.
In that order, he directed federal agencies to review whether their policies and rules complied with this interpretation, citing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County, that established LGBTQ protections in federal employment law.
Subsequently, the Education Department in June issued a public notice that it considered gay and transgender individuals to be shielded from discrimination under Title IX. Colleges must follow this law or risk losing their federal funding.
Bostock focused on Title VII, the anti-discrimination employment law, which contains language akin to Title IX's.
But these similarities did not persuade some Republican state attorneys general, who in July wrote to Biden saying the administration's interpretations "misconstrued federal law." All of the states that signed onto the July letter, except for Texas, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed this week.
They are arguing the department did not pursue proper regulatory procedures when it announced its reading of Title IX in June.
The agency also did not adequately justify the shift in policy, the states allege. They drew attention to the fact that the department under the Trump administration did not believe the Bostock ruling would affect Title IX.
The states also contend the department's actions infringe on part of the Constitution that bars Congress from using its spending powers to force states to adopt federal rules as their own. States would have no choice but to follow the department's policy because colleges' federal funds may be jeopardized, according to the lawsuit.
And they said the department is violating First and Tenth Amendment rights. The states are asking the court to deem the department's decision, and guidance documents associated with it, unlawful. They are asking for a ruling that they are not bound by it.
An Education Department spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation. The agency is also in the midst of a rewrite of a regulation governing Title IX and how colleges must investigate and potentially punish campus sexual misconduct.
