In step with Joe Biden’s failed presidency, a federal judge on January 9 struck down the administration’s attempt to redefine “sex” in Title IX to mean “gender identity.” The administration’s 1,500-page rewrite was designed to allow, among other things, a full-fledged invasion of men and boys into girls’ and women’s sports, including the use of women’s bathrooms and locker rooms. From the beginning, the proposed new Title IX rule faced stiff opposition from advocates of women’s rights, conservatives, and supporters of the original purpose of Title IX.

While the Biden rule became effective in 24 of 50 states last August 1st, the U.S. Supreme Court that same month allowed lower court injunctions against it to stand, in an abbreviated opinion known as Department of Education v. Louisiana and Cardona v. Tennessee. These injunctions stemmed from lawsuits filed against the proposed Title IX rewrite by the 26 states that either took legal action themselves or joined in the action of others, and were thus exempted from being forced to implement the new law. (See Education Reporter, May 2024.)

Nearly all the midwestern and southern states joined the legal action, as did the western states of Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah. In addition, as Education Week reported last July, “one school district, two students, and five conservative advocacy organizations” also took part in the legal challenges.

Now, the January 9 ruling in Tennessee v. Cordona has effectively blocked Biden’s Title IX revision in all 50 states. As reported by USA Today, “U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves, chief jurist for the Eastern District of Kentucky, ruled that the administration’s rewrite of Title IX violated the Constitution. The 1972 law prohibits sex-based discrimination in K-12 schools and colleges that receive federal funding.” Judge Reeves also presided over the issuance of the temporary injunctions last June in six states.

USA Today observed that the ruling came with “just over a week left in Joe Biden’s presidency,” and that the revision of Title IX was one of his “signature education policies.” Virginia’s attorney general Jason Miyares expressed delight at the decision on X, posting that “at the urging of Virginia and [five] other States, a federal court has vacated the Biden Administration’s unlawful Title IX rewrite on a NATIONWIDE basis. [Emphasis in original.] All of America is now safe from Biden’s attempt to undermine half a century of landmark protections for women.”

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, also a key player in the litigation, was predictably gratified at the outcome. “Another massive win for TN and the country!” he enthused. “The court’s order is a resounding victory for the protection of girls’ privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically accurate pronouns.”

Early on in its tenure, the Biden Administration began tinkering with Title IX to enshrine “gender identity” in the law, allegedly to prevent discrimination against boys and men who believe or pretend to believe they are females. For many, the overhaul was an obvious attempt to undo the first Trump Administration’s due process protections, which liberals spun as “giving more rights” to perpetrators of sexual harassment and/or assault.

Perhaps in an attempt to ward off the very court decision that Judge Reeves handed down on January 9, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) just last month withdrew a portion of the Title IX rewrite. A document published in the Federal Register the day after Christmas explained that the DOE “is withdrawing the notice of proposed rulemaking [NPRM] entitled ‘Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance: Sex-Related Eligibility Criteria for Male and Female Athletic Teams.’” The rule in question was added to the Federal Register on April 13, 2023, and “would have [further] amended the regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX).”

Public pushback

The DOE’s withdrawal notice, and the ultimate defeat of the sweeping Title IX revision in total may have been aided by the “more than 150,000 public comments,” received during the 30-day comment period following the Department’s publication of the new regulation. The notice explained that “numerous commenters expressed concern,” and continued:

• The Department recognizes that there are multiple pending lawsuits related to the application of Title IX in the context of gender identity, including lawsuits related to Title IX’s application to athletic eligibility criteria in a variety of factual contexts. In light of the comments received and those various pending court cases, the Department has determined not to regulate on this issue at this time. Therefore, the Department hereby withdraws the Athletics NPRM and terminates this rulemaking proceeding. We do not intend for a final rule to be issued on this NPRM.

The Christian legal ministry, Liberty Counsel, accused the Biden Administration of overstepping its authority “by redefining ‘sex’ and extending discrimination protections to gender-confused individuals — actions that both impede state sovereignty and usurp the role of Congress to define terms.” The organization’s founder and chairman, Mat Staver, said: “The radical rewrite of Title IX regulations contradicts everything the law was enacted to do — protect opportunities for women and girls. This withdrawal reflects the views of most Americans who believe that women’s sports should remain reserved for female athletes.”

After the withdrawal notice became public, some observers warned that the battle was far from over, and described the removal of the “transgender sports proposal” as a smokescreen. The Washington Times cautioned that, although Biden “has withdrawn his proposed rule protecting transgender athletes, that doesn’t mean the game is up for biological males in female scholastic sports.”

The Times pointed out that “the sports issue cannot be carved out from the administration’s previous reworking of Title IX, which took effect August 1.” May Mailman, director of the Independent Women’s Law Center, told the Times: “Biden’s omnibus Title IX regulation redefines sex to mean gender identity, threatening all women’s opportunities in school, including athletics. We’re not done protecting women from the humiliation of being treated as though they are a state of mind.”

Kara Dansky, a spokesperson for the U.S. Chapter of the Women’s Declaration International, concluded after pursuing what she called “a deep dive into the Title IX rewrite” that the DOE is “deliberately obscuring its actual intention in order to confuse everyone.” Dansky and others said the June 2022 rule, which was finalized in April 2024, “already redefined sex to include ‘gender identity’ for all Title IX purposes,” without exempting sports.

Fortunately, the deceptive tactics used by the Biden Administration to protect the sweeping overhaul of Title IX are now a moot point. In the wake of the latest court decision, the incoming Trump Administration may want to ensure that the due process protections it enshrined in Title IX during its first term remain in place.

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