Tennessee AG Skrmetti Applauds U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling to Block the Education Department’s Title IX Rule from Taking Effect

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling on Friday to block the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) Title IX rule from taking effect.

The DOE’s final rule, blocked from being implemented by the nation’s highest court, would have rewritten Title IX to encompass gender identity and sexual orientation.

Title IX currently states:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

The department’s rule seeks to rewrite Title IX to abolish sex-based distinctions in educational activities and programs to accommodate transgender individuals, which would essentially require K-12 schools, colleges, and universities to allow males identifying as females access to women’s sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms.

In addition, any school that fails to comply with the department’s rules risks losing federal education funding.

In June, federal trial courts blocked the DOE’s Title IX rewrite from taking effect in 10 states that joined two separate lawsuits challenging the rule.

Federal appeals courts then rejected the DOE’s request to temporarily enforce the rule, leading the department to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

Tennessee’s Skrmetti, who led one of the two lawsuits against the DOE’s rule, said he was “grateful” that the Supreme Court “agreed that no part of the Biden administration’s Title IX rule should go into effect while the case proceeds.”

“This is a win for student privacy, free speech, and the rule of law,” Skrmetti added.

Skrmetti’s lawsuit was filed with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and joined by the state attorneys general of Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The second lawsuit the Supreme Court ruled on Friday was led by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and joined by the attorneys general of Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho.

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Jonathan Skrmetti” by Tennessee Attorney General.