Another six states won’t be subject to the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX rules when they take effect next month after a federal judge temporarily blocked the regulations in Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
With the Wednesday ruling, the Title IX regulations have now been put on pause in at least 21 states. Moreover, another recent ruling stopped them from taking effect in over 600 colleges — including some that aren’t covered by the statewide blocks.
In a 56-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel, a Clinton appointee, said the states have a “fair chance that they will prevail” in their arguments against the new regulations.
Title IX bars sex-based discrimination in federally funded colleges and K-12 schools. The Education Department released new regulations in April that expand Title IX’s protections by prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, arguing that amounts to sex-based discrimination.
Although LGBTQ+ advocates have praised the changes, conservative states have taken issue with them.
The Arkansas-led lawsuit alleged that the Education Department overstepped its authority by requiring states, colleges and schools to “ignore biological sex in favor of self-professed ‘gender identity.’” It argued the rule would eliminate “privacy protections women and girls enjoy in restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities and overnight accommodations.”
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin hailed the ruling in a statement Wednesday.
“Today’s ruling is a victory for women and girls in Arkansas and across the nation as yet again a federal court has stopped the Biden-Harris administration from going around Congress to implement a ridiculous, nonsensical, and illegal election-year move,” Griffin said.
