Supreme Court halts Title IX transgender mandate in schools in 26 states
August 20, 2024
Upholding lower court decisions, the Supreme Court has temporarily halted the enforcement of the Biden administration’s new K-12 Title IX regulations in 26 states whose attorneys-general challenged the regulations.
In an unsigned unanimous decision (pp. 1-3), the Supreme Court halted enforcement of the controversial aspects of the regulations, which went into effect on August 1, and which compel federally-funded non-religious schools to open bathrooms, locker rooms, and single-sex physical education classes to students based on their subjective gender identity.
In a 5-4 decision (pp. 1-9, following the initial pp. 1-3), the Supreme Court halted the entirety of the new regulations in those 26 states. The four dissenting justices argued that the non-controversial aspects that were not legally challenged should go into effect.
The new Title IX regulations remain in force in the 24 states whose attorneys-general did not challenge them (yellow states)—with a remarkable exception.
Education Week notes that as a result of one federal court decision, parents who become members of Moms for Liberty, or students who become members of Young America’s Foundation or Female Athletes United, prevent the 2024 Title IX regulations from going into effect at their schools. At least 400 schools in Wisconsin, for example, have parents who are members of Moms for Liberty, thus halting enforcement of the 2024 Title IX regulations at those schools.
In a detailed 12-page document, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) expressed opposition to aspects of the new regulations as they were being drafted. The USCCB and NCEA noted that the new regulations left in place “the statutory exemption in Title IX for religious schools”—meaning that the new regulations do not apply to Catholic and other religious K-12 schools.
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