The Biden administration new regulation of Title IX Expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students has been temporarily blocked in four states after a federal judge in Louisiana found it exceeded the Department of Education's authority.
In a preliminary injunction granted Thursday, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty called the new rule an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy.” His order blocks the rule in Louisiana, which filed a challenge to the rule in April, and Mississippi, Montana and Idaho, which joined the lawsuit.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to the order.
Louisiana's case is among at least seven backed by more than 20 Republican-led states fighting the Biden administration. The rule, which will take effect in August, extends Title IX's civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students, broadens the definition of sexual harassment in schools and colleges, and adds safeguards for victims.
Doughty, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, is the first judge to block the rule. It deals a major blow to the new protections, which were praised by civil rights advocates but sparked a backlash from opponents who say they undermine the spirit of Title IX, a 1972 law that bans sex discrimination in the education
Louisiana is among several Republican states with laws requiring people to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their sex assigned at birth, restricting transgender students from using facilities that align with their gender identity. President Biden's administration clashes with these laws and claimed to replace them.
The Louisiana lawsuit argued that the new rule would force schools in the four states to pay millions of dollars to upgrade their facilities. In his decision, the judge called it an “invasion of state sovereignty” and concluded that the states would likely succeed on the merits of the case.
His order says the rule likely violates free speech laws by requiring schools to use student-requested pronouns. He also questions whether the Biden administration has legal authority to expand Title IX to LGBTQ+ students.
“The Court finds that the term “sex discrimination'' included only discrimination against biological males and females at the time of enactment,” Doughty wrote in his order.
The judge expressed concern that the rule could require schools to allow transgender women and girls to compete on girls' sports teams. Several Republican states have laws that prohibit transgender girls from competing on girls' teams.
The Biden administration has proposed a separate rule that would prohibit those blanket bans, but he said the just-finalized rule doesn't apply to athletics. Still, Doughty said it could be interpreted to apply to sports.
“The final rule applies to sex discrimination in any educational 'program' or 'activity' that receives federal financial assistance,” he wrote. “The terms 'program' or 'activity' are not defined, but could include sports teams for host schools.”
Judges in at least six other cases are weighing whether to similarly suspend Biden's rule. The Defense of Freedom Institute, a right-wing nonprofit that backed Louisiana's lawsuit, applauded Doughty's order.
“We're confident that other courts and states will soon follow,” said Bob Eitel, the nonprofit's president and a Trump administration education official.
Biden issued the new rule after dismantling another created by Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos. This rule narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and added protections for students accused of sexual misconduct.
On social media Thursday, DeVos called Louisiana's decision a victory, saying the “radical anti-women rewrite of Title IX is not only crazy, it's illegal.”
