Another Court Enjoins Title IX Regulations

A Missouri district court has issued an injunction preventing enforcement of the most recent U.S. Department of Education regulations applying Title IX to transgender students. Six states sued the U.S. DOE over the regulations, and the court agreed that the agency overstepped by interpreting Title IX to include transgender issues. The six plaintiff states — Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota — are free to adopt contrary rules without losing federal funds.

The main issue was how to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which case the Justices decided that Title VII prohibits discrimination against transgender employees. The Missouri court decided that Bostock does not control Title IX, citing (1) language in Bostock in which Supreme Court specifically limited its decision to Title VII, (2) the common understanding of Title IX language at the time it was enacted, and (3) the different Congressional