Due Process on Campus: Part III in a Series on the Biden Administration’s Final Title IX Rule
Paul F. Zimmerman
October 15, 2024
On April 29, 2024, the Department of Education published a 423-page final rule amending its implementing regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities in the United States, with certain exceptions. This blog series examines the final rule’s most significant changes—related to the Department’s reinterpretation of the term “sex” in Title IX, requirements to address “sex-based harassment,” and the obligations of schools regarding Title IX enforcement and due process in disciplinary proceedings. The final installment of the series will review legal challenges to the rule filed by states, school districts, and civil and parental rights groups in federal courts that have resulted in preliminary injunctions blocking the entire rule in 26 states and in additional schools throughout the country.
Federal courts have long recognized that public schools must comply with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment before disciplining students or employees. Consistent with this principle, in 2001, the U.S. Department of Education (the “Department”) interpreted its regulations under Title IX to require institutions that operate federally funded education programs or activities to provide for the “[a]dequate, reliable, and impartial investigation of complaints, including the opportunity to present witnesses and other evidence.”
