A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Department of Education’s latest Title IX rule, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
The pronounciation: Chief Judge Terry Doughty in the Western District of Louisiana said in an order Thursday that Title IX, a federal education law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, “was written and intended to protect biological females from discrimination.”
“Such a goal makes it difficult to honestly argue that, at the time of enactment, ‘discrimination on the basis of sex’ included gender identity, sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, or gender characteristics,” wrote Doughty, a Trump appointee. “Implementing the changes in the Final Rule would undermine the original purpose of Title IX.”
He also stated that the case “demonstrates abuse of power by executive federal agencies in the regulatory process.”
Main context: The preliminary injunction blocks the Department of Education rule from taking effect in August in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho — a string of states that have filed one of at least seven lawsuits being pursued by Republican attorneys general.
The ruling limits how the agency can enforce the rule’s transgender protections in schools in these states. Several states, including Louisiana, Montana, Florida, South Carolina and Oklahoma, had already said they will not comply with the new rule. And more than two dozen states are challenging the policy in federal court.
This report will be updated.
