New Title IX Regulations Blocked in Six More States
Katherine Knott
June 18, 2024
The Biden administration’s new rule overhauling Title IX, the federal gender-equity law, is on hold in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia after a federal judge issued an order temporarily blocking the regulations from taking effect in those states Aug. 1.
Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, found that the final regulations, which clarify that Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sexual and gender identity, are inconsistent with the underlying Title IX statute, Congress’s intentions in passing the law, and the way it’s been regulated.
The expanded definition of sex-based discrimination “wreaks havoc on Title IX,” Reeves wrote. “Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 was intended to level the playing field between men and women in education,” he said. “The statute tells us that no person shall be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance ‘on the basis of sex.’ However, the Department of Education seeks to derail deeply rooted law with a Final Rule that is set to go into effect on August 1, 2024.”
