Tennessee A.G. Jonathan Skrmetti Announces New Title IX Lawsuit Against Biden Administration in Press Conference with Riley Gaines

Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced on Tuesday that Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky are leading a coalition of states in a new lawsuit seeking to stop the Biden administration’s revisions to Title IX that critics argue endanger women and girls.

“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” Skrmetti stated.

He said, “Under this radical and illegal attempt to rewrite [Title IX], if a man enters a woman’s locker room and a woman complains that makes her uncomfortable, the woman will be subject to investigation and penalties for violating the man’s civil rights.”

The attorney general continued, “Federal bureaucrats have no power to rewrite laws passed by the people’s elected representatives, and I expect the courts will put a stop to this unconstitutional power grab.”

Skrmetti’s office announced that Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia are also joining the lawsuit, and other states “are filing similar challenges” in other court jurisdictions.

After revealing the lawsuit, Skrmetti held a press conference on Tuesday with West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and American swimmer Riley Gaines, who maintains she was denied accolades due to the alleged preference by National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) for transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

“Let’s be clear, this is the most anti-woman, anti-reality pursuit we have seen from this administration thus far,” said Gaines of the Biden administration’s Title IX changes.

The athlete revealed, “To date, males have stolen over 943 trophies, medals, and titles from women and girls across 458 different competitions and over 41 different sports,” citing instances recorded by shewon.org.

Gaines nonetheless said she was encouraged because “[c]ommonsense Americans know, intuitively, that this is not fair.”

Expressing her gratitude to Skrmetti for leading the lawsuit, Gaines remarked, “I’m never leaving the state of Tennessee.”

Skrmetti argued at the press conference that the lawsuit is about protecting women but also maintaining the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution.

“Under this rule, even questioning someone’s gender identity could constitute illegal sexual harassment,” Skrmetti explained when asked about the unintended consequences of the Biden administration’s Title IX rewrite.

Skrmetti explained, “If a boy wanders into a girls’ locker room, people will feel deterred from challenging that because they could get in trouble just for asking questions, just for saying, ‘Does this person really belong here.'”

Noting that even former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg acknowledged “the enduring differences between men and women,” Skrmetti declared, “We have every expectation that we’re going to win this case and we look forward to litigating it” and receiving “clarity from the courts.”

Morrisey echoed Skrmetti’s remarks, declaring he is “looking forward to litigating this as long as it takes to be successful.”

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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Pennsylvania Daily Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Jonathan Skrmetti’ by Tennessee Attorney General.