The U.S. Supreme Court, pictured, issued an order maintaining a block on new Title IX rules while a challenge is heard in an appeals court. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected efforts by the Biden administration to temporarily put on hold a federal court’s decision that blocks a central part of new Title IX rules for schools from going into effect.?
The order by the justices allows a decision made by Chief Judge Danny Reeves of the U.S. District Court in Eastern Kentucky to block the rules to remain in place for now. Reeves had sided with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and five other Republican attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging the new Title IX rules, which aim to protect transgender students.
A federal appeals court last month also declined to put on hold Reeves’ decision, and that court is hearing an appeal of Reeves’ decision in October.?
“The Court expects that the Courts of Appeals will render their decisions with appropriate dispatch,” the majority of justices wrote.?
The order also agreed to leave in place another federal court decision blocking the new Title IX rules brought separately by the Louisiana attorney general and three other Republican attorneys general.?
Coleman in a statement on the order said the Republican attorneys general were defending “equal opportunities for Kentucky’s women and young girls” at the country’s highest court.?
“The Biden-Harris Administration is threatening to rip away 50 years of Title IX protections. Together with our colleagues in Tennessee and four other states, we are fighting to uphold the promise of Title IX for generations to come,” Coleman said.
Title IX deals with sex-based discrimination at any school that receives federal funding.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miquel Cardona previously said in a statement the new Title IX rules would have built “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.”?
The rules, which would have went into effect Aug. 1, sought to roll 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.
Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia joined Kentucky challenging the administration’s order.
Reeves’ opinion said the states represented in the lawsuit argued that the Title IX rules would “invalidate scores of States’ and schools’ sex-separated sports policies.” The Kentucky General Assembly passed such a law in 2022 to require athletes in schools to play on teams associated with their biological sex
A sponsor of that law, Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, applauded the U.S. Supreme Court order in a Friday statement, which he said “directly condemns the woke ideology promoted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Biden-Harris administration.” Henderson thanked Coleman for defending the law.
“Wokeism and gender ideology must never trump Kentucky values and the U.S. Constitution,” Mills said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Saturday morning with additional comments.?
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Liam Niemeyer
Liam covers government and policy in Kentucky and its impacts throughout the Commonwealth for the Kentucky Lantern. He most recently spent four years reporting award-winning stories for WKMS Public Radio in Murray.
Kentucky Lantern is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
