In a narrow 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful rewrite of Title IX, a statute meant to protect women in academia and athletics. Under the revised standards, the Biden-Harris administration swapped the word “sex” for “gender” and “gender identity” over 289 times, defeating the original purpose of the law. New Title IX standards require schools and universities that receive public funding to allow men who “identify” as female into girls’ and women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, dorm rooms, and sports leagues. After the revisions were announced in April, legal challenges were immediately filed in multiple states. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling sided with the lower courts in two cases: Cardona v. State of Tennessee and U.S. Department of Education v. State of Louisiana.
The Biden-Harris administration sought to partially reinstate the revised Title IX laws in states where it was banned, but the Supreme Court granted the following states a temporary injunction to continue abiding by the former Title IX laws that define women based on biological sex: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s radical redefinition of sex turns back the clock on equal opportunity for women, undermines fairness, and threatens student safety and privacy,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs explained. “The Supreme Court rightly affirmed the 5th and 6th Circuit decisions to restrain the administration’s illegal efforts to rewrite Title IX while these critical lawsuits continue. This administration is ignoring biological reality, science, and common sense. Female athletes, students, and teachers across the country are right to stand against the administration’s adoption of extreme gender ideology, which would have devastating consequences for students, teachers, administrators, and families.” (emphasis added)
The Biden-Harris Administration has threatened to withhold federal nutrition assistance funding to any schools that fail to abide by the revised Title IX standards in an attempt to force states to comply with the unlawful rewrite. Threatening to withhold funding that will feed children breakfast and lunch in order to further a pointless political agenda reveals where this administration’s true priorities lay. Twenty-two attorneys general have already signed onto a lawsuit filed against the administration for this threat which is, yet again, an unlawful overreach and abuse of their authority.
“The Education Department wants to strip privacy, safety, and fairness away from females in schools as this administration tries to ignore reality, science, and common sense,” Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver noted. “Now the High Court confirms the Title IX rewrite is contrary to the law. Males have no business entering females’ private spaces such as restrooms, locker rooms, and showers and participating on girls’ sports teams.”
This Supreme Court ruling puts us one step closer to victory in protecting women and girls in athletics and academia and upholding the original Title IX wording. We are hopeful that future court rulings in the ongoing lawsuits will continue to do the same!
