A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a Biden administration rule expanding federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ students.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves halts enforcement of changes to Title IX — the federal civil rights law preventing sex discrimination in schools and education programs that receive government funding — that were finalized in April by the Education Department in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia
The new rule, which covers discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time, had been set to take effect later this summer.
Reeves, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs — the six GOP-led states, an association of Christian educators and a 15-year-old girl — will “suffer immediate and irreparable harm” if the rule is allowed to take effect.
“As [the plaintiffs] correctly argue, the new rule contravenes the plain text of Title IX by redefining ‘sex’ to include gender identity, violates government employees’ First Amendment rights, and is the result of arbitrary and capricious rulemaking,” Reeves wrote.
His ruling comes days after another federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s rule from taking effect in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana, after the states sued the Biden administration in April. Lawsuits challenging the rule in more than a dozen other Republican-controlled states are still pending.
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