Federal Judge Scraps Education Department’s Transgender Title IX Expansion

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona delivers remarks at the department's Lyndon Baines Johnson Building in Washington on Jan. 27, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

A federal judge on Jan. 9 scrapped the Education Department’s attempt to expand Title IX protections to people who identify as transgender, finding that the 2024 rule is illegal.

Title IX forbids discrimination on the basis of sex. It applies to schools that receive federal funding.

The Department of Education (DOE), in its rule, made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

States sued, and a judge blocked the rule while the legal case proceeded. That judge, U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, struck down the rule in the new decision.

The rule is arbitrary and capricious, in violation of federal law, because the DOE failed to account for the “glaring inconsistencies” it creates, including how it would prohibit schools from separating sexes in facilities such as bathrooms and showers, the judge wrote in a 15-page ruling.

“The entire point of Title IX is to prevent discrimination based on sex—throwing gender identity into the mix eviscerates the statute and renders it largely meaningless,” he said.

Reeves declined a proposal by federal officials to allow portions of the rule to take effect, concluding that the entire rule was invalid.

“Although the Court has discretion to craft a different remedy, there is no reason to do so here,” he said, adding later, “The seriousness of the error weighs heavily in favor of vacating the Final Rule, as it is unlawful on numerous fronts.”

The ruling came in a case brought by six states: Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

“This is a huge win for Tennessee, for common sense, and for women and girls across America,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement.

The Biden administration’s Title IX revisions would have ended sex-based protections for biological women in all aspects of education, and this would have marked a retreat from the progress women have made,""West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement.

The DOE did not respond to a request for comment.

Previous court decisions have blocked the rule in some other states.

The ruling came as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on Jan. 20. Trump, on the campaign trail, told supporters he would work to keep men out of women’s sports.