A federal judge in Kentucky has reaffirmed his decision to block Biden administration rules aimed at protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination. (Getty Images)
A federal judge in Kentucky has reaffirmed his decision to block Biden administration Title IX rules, including those aimed at protecting LGBTQ+ students from discrimination in schools.
Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky issued a ruling siding with Republican attorneys general from several states including Kentucky last summer. In his latest ruling, issued Thursday, Reeves wrote that the U.S. Department of Education attempted “to bypass the legislative process and completely transform” Title IX rules established in the 1970s.
Reeves’ ruling says that states “need not comply with the Rule to receive federal funding.” The judge also said the U.S. Department of Education exceeded its authority, the rules violated the First Amendment and the rules were “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Biden administration introduced the rules to “build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona previously said. The rules also would have rolled back Trump administration changes that narrowly defined sexual harassment and directed schools to conduct live hearings, allowing those who were accused of sexual harassment or assault to cross-examine their accusers.
Kentucky passed a law that banned transgender girls and women from playing on their schools’ sports teams in 2022, which would have been at odds with the Biden Title IX rules.
The sponsor of that legislation, Senate Majority Caucus Chair Robby Mills, R-Henderson, celebrated Reeves’ opinion. He called Thursday “a great day for fairness in athletics and a significant victory for Title IX overall” and applauded Republican Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s defense of the law in court.
“By striking down the Biden Administration’s regulations changing the meaning of ‘sex’ in Title IX the court has again affirmed the foundational principle of equal opportunity, constitutional rights, and separation of powers,” Mills said in a statement. “This decision ensures that women and girls can continue to compete on a level playing field, preserving the integrity of women’s sports across the nation and protecting the equal opportunity that Title IX has long stood for.”
Other attorneys general who challenged the rule are from Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia and West Virginia