In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court has rejected the Biden administration’s urgent appeal to partially reinstate its new Title IX rule. This revised rule, which expands protections against se*x discrimination in educational institutions to include se*xual orientation and gender identity, has faced serious opposition from Republican state attorneys general. These officials have succeeded in convincing judges to block its implementation in approximately half of the country.
The Biden administration argued that these injunctions were overly broad and requested the Supreme Court to limit them, allowing most of the changes to take effect while focusing specifically on the prohibitions related to gender identity discrimination. The updates, initially scheduled for implementation on August 1, include provisions for accommodations for pregnant students, protections against retaliation, and recordkeeping requirements.
Supreme Court denies Biden administration’s request to partially revive new Title IX rule, preserving lower court blocks
According to the court’s unsigned order, the administration failed to provide sufficient grounds to overturn the lower courts’ interim decisions. These decisions found that the contested provisions were interconnected with other parts of the rule, and thus, blocking the entire rule was deemed appropriate.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, along with the court’s other liberal justices and conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissented. They believed the lower courts had acted beyond their authority by blocking regulations unrelated to the specific issues raised in the challenges.
This ruling is a temporary measure and does not represent a final decision on the Title IX rule, with the cases returning to lower appeals courts and potentially coming back to the Supreme Court. This development follows the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision affirming that firing employees based on se*xual orientation or gender identity violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Biden administration has defended its Title IX updates as aligning with this precedent, and the court’s opinion suggests a unanimous agreement on blocking the central changes at this preliminary stage. Gorsuch’s support for the court’s liberals parallels his role in the 2020 ruling.
