By Nate Raymond
(Reuters) -A federal judge in Louisiana on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a new rule in four states that would ban schools and colleges that receive federal funding from discriminating against students based on their gender identity.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe issued a preliminary injunction blocking a U.S. Department of Education rule that extended sex discrimination protections under Title IX to LGBT students from taking effect in the Republican-led states of Louisiana , Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.
The ruling by Doughty, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, appeared to be the first nationally blocking the rule in response to one of several lawsuits filed by Republican-led states and conservative litigants challenging the challenge the rule.
The Department of Education said in issuing the rule that it made clear that the prohibition on sex discrimination in schools and colleges receiving federal funding, contained in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, also includes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The department cited a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found a ban on sex discrimination in the workplace contained in another law, Title VII, also covered gay and transgender employees.
Courts often rely on interpretations of Title VII when analyzing Title IX, as both laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.
But Doughty agreed with the Republican attorneys general of Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho that Congress did not clearly authorize the department to implement the rule, which he said was “contrary to the text, structure and purpose of Title IX’.
“Accordingly, this Court finds that Defendants do not have the authority to issue regulations that change the meaning of ‘sex discrimination’ to include gender identity, sexual orientation, sex stereotypes, or gender characteristics,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis)
