The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Biden’s request to reinstate his administration’s new Title IX regulations that hoped to create protections for LGBTQ+ students and pregnant students from discrimination at school.
Title IX’s Historical Role
Title IX is a law enacted in 1972 that was meant to protect women’s rights in school by making sex-based discrimination illegal in schools that receive federal funding.
Expanding Title IX Protections
Over the last fifty years, Title IX’s protections have been slowly expanded and reinterpreted through various court decisions, like in 2020, when the protections were extended into employment protections.
Conflicting Interpretations Under Trump and Biden
However, the current Biden administration and the previous Trump administration attempted to enforce significantly different interpretations of Title IX, leading to constant legal disputes over the last four years.
Narrowly Split Decision
Now, the Supreme Court has been narrowly split with a 5-4 vote blocking Biden’s Title IX changes, with only conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joining the three dissenting liberal justices.
Dissenting Views on Provisions
Justice Neil Gorsuch and the other dissenting justices argued that some of the gender and sexuality provisions may need further review, but other provisions should be passed immediately.
Sotomayor on Enforcement
Justice Sonia Sotomayor was one such judge who felt many of the provisions may have been too broad, but other aspects of Biden’s changes could still be reasonably enforced.
“Grant Most Stay Requests”
“I would grant most of the Government’s stay requests and leave enjoined only its enforcement of the three challenged provisions,” Sotomayor wrote in the dissent.
Reversing Trump-Era Policies
The changes proposed by the Biden administration would reverse Trump-Era policies that took away Title IX’s protections for LGBTQ+ students.
Additional Protections Blocked
The changes would have also introduced provisions that protect pregnant and breastfeeding students. However, these changes have ultimately been blocked in several states.
Republican Legal Challenges
Several Republican states have challenged the new rules, leading to several lawsuits across the United States where federal courts determined that the new rules would be blocked in 26 states.
Claims of “Irreparable Harm”
The states challenging the new rules argue that they could cause “irreparable harm,” due to the provisions that protect bathroom access for transgender students and create preferred pronoun policies.
“A Victory For Privacy”
“I am grateful that the Supreme Court of the United States agreed that no part of the Biden administration’s Title IX rule should go into effect while the case proceeds,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said.
Skrmetti’s Response to Ruling
Skrmetti was representing Tennessee in its challenge of the rule and praised the Supreme Court’s decision as a victory for “student privacy, free speech, and the rule of law.”
Broader Transgender Rights Debate
While the Title IX dispute is a massive issue with wide-reaching effects all on its own, it is still part of a larger national debate on transgender rights in America.
State Legislation Against LGBTQ+ Rights
States all across the country have been proposing and passing legislation that is meant to restrict the rights of both the transgender community and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
Biden’s Legislative Efforts
The Biden administration has attempted to pass legislation that would ensure the rights of these marginalized communities, but with each attempt, new challenges arise from states fighting the changes.
Focus on Transgender Students
While passing protections for the transgender community as a whole brings on serious challenges, it seems the Biden administration’s focus has been on the rights of transgender students facing discrimination in school.
Human Rights Campaign Support
While this has led to the massive Title IX debate going on throughout conservative courtrooms all across the country, organizations like the Human Rights Campaign are praising these efforts.
“Education Without Discrimination”
“Every young person deserves the opportunity to be able to access a public education without discrimination because of who they are,” said Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy at the Human Rights Campaign.
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