The Supreme Court declined to enact new Title IX regulations that would have shielded transgender students from prejudice.
A significant portion of the Biden-Harris administration’s proposed Title IX modifications, which opponents said would permit males to participate in women’s sports, were rejected by the Supreme Court on Friday by a decision of 5 to 4. The administration had urgently requested that additional regulations be put in place to safeguard transgender pupils from prejudice, and this request was granted. According to reports, the judges decided not to intervene as long as the state legal proceedings are ongoing.
The lower court decisions that had blocked the new regulation altogether were not to be changed by the administration, the justices refused to allow it. While the court issue is still pending, this regulation was intended to broaden safeguards under Title IX, which forbids sex discrimination in institutions that receive federal funds.
Supreme Court nixes Biden-Harris changes to Title IX
The Biden team claimed that the court orders were overly “broad” and requested that certain revisions to the regulations be implemented by August 1. Republicans and conservative organizations, however, claimed the reforms were too complex and that schools would find it difficult to rapidly implement the new policies.
Lawyers for Alliance Defending Freedom stated last month, as reported by USA Today, that “schools would have to work out how the rule functions without its key provisions, amend their policies, and train their staff accordingly—all by next week—and then do it all again after judicial review.”
According to the Biden administration, the new rule’s implementation isn’t meant to decide who is eligible to play women’s sports. Still, experts warned Fox News in June that more biological guys may end up playing women’s sports as a result of the law.
The Biden team significantly amended Title IX regulations in April, stating unequivocally that LGBTQ+ students are now protected. The revised regulation made it clear that discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and “pregnancy or related conditions” is now prohibited by Title IX, which prohibits “sex” discrimination in schools.
A new law that broadened the definition of sex discrimination to encompass matters of an individual’s gender identification came into force on August 1. However, courts in ten states with Republican governorships temporarily stopped this order. The Biden administration thus requested that the Supreme Court weigh in on the matter and determine whether or not the regulation should be put into effect.
Justices ‘want less controversial rules to take effect’
The three liberal Supreme Court justices and Justice Neil Gorsuch disagreed with the majority’s ruling. They believed that the less contentious provisions of the new regulations needed to go into effect. Justice Sonia Sotomayor disagreed, pointing out that the court’s ruling maintains interim restrictions and prevents the government from enforcing the whole rule—even the portions that don’t pertain to the challenges raised by the parties. These prohibitions, in her opinion, are “too broad.”
“On this limited record and in its emergency applications, the Government has not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the lower courts’ interim conclusions that the three provisions found likely to be unlawful are intertwined with and affect other provisions of the rule,” the unsigned order of the court reads according to Fox News.
