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State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education

Description: The state of Kansas, along with three other states, and private groups of parents, students, and female athletes, are challenging the Biden administration for attempting to rewrite Title IX to include "gender identity" in the federal definition of "sex." 


Thursday, Oct 17, 2024

DENVER – Women’s groups, female athletes, scholars, 23 states, and many others have filed friend-of-the-court briefs asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to halt the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful attempt to redefine the word “sex” to include “gender identity” in Title IX, a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics.

In the case State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent students and female athletes affected by the new rule. They joined with Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach; the attorneys general from Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming; and Southeastern Legal Foundation, representing Moms for Liberty and Young America’s Foundation, to file the lawsuit in May.

“The Biden-Harris administration is attempting to rewrite Title IX through regulation. They seek to force young girls to share hotel rooms with boys who identify as females on overnight field trips and to change in front of men in locker rooms, threatening loss of federal funding if school districts put children’s best interests first. These actions are unlawful and unconstitutional, which is why the district court blocked the administration’s efforts. We are now asking the 10th Circuit to affirm the district court’s decision, protect Title IX, and ensure young women and girls continue to enjoy fairness and privacy in education,” Kobach said.

“The Biden-Harris administration’s radical redefinition of sex turns back the clock on equal opportunity for women, undermines fairness, and threatens student safety and privacy,” said ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategy and Center for Conscience Initiatives Jonathan Scruggs. “It also means girls will be forced to undress in locker rooms and share hotel rooms with boys on overnight school trips, teachers and students will have to refrain from speaking truthfully about biological sex, and girls will lose their right to fair competition in sports. Female athletes, students, and advocates across the country are right to stand against the administration’s adoption of extreme gender ideology, which would have devastating consequences for so many.”

In July, a federal district court in Kansas issued an injunction that halts the administration’s illegal attempt to rewrite Title IX while the lawsuit continues. The injunction covers not only the states of Kansas, Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming but also every school across the country attended by plaintiff student Katie Rowland, the members of Female Athletes United, the members of Young America’s Foundation, and the minor children of the members of Moms for Liberty.

“Title IX does not provide ‘clear notice’ that it extends to sexual-orientation or gender-identity discrimination. The statute’s text, structure, and aims show that it bars discrimination based on biological sex,” the brief led by the state of Mississippi and joined by 22 other states explains. “Nearly 30 years after Title IX’s enactment, the Department of Education declared: ‘Title IX does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.’ Just a few years ago, the Department reaffirmed that ‘Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination does not encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.’”

“Pursuant to this novel rewriting of Title IX, the Department demands that schools allow males to use women’s locker rooms and (seemingly) requires that men ‘identifying’ as women be permitted to compete in women’s sports. It promulgated these demands through a Final Rule that is both arbitrary and contrary to law,” the brief filed by the Independent Women’s Law Center, Women’s Declaration International USA, and Concerned Women for America states. “As University of Pennsylvania swimmer Paula Scanlan experienced, stripping nude and showering before a male eighteen times per week caused her—as a woman—tangible, sex-based harm. Title IX cannot plausibly be interpreted to require that.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.

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Friend-of-the-court briefs filed with U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit



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ABOUT Jonathan Scruggs

Jonathan Scruggs serves as senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy and the Center for Conscience Initiatives with Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, he identifies new litigation opportunities and develops new strategies for protecting free speech and religious liberty in collaboration with the chief legal counsel and litigation team directors. As the leader for the Center for Conscience Initiatives, Scruggs oversees the litigation team defending the rights of professionals and business owners to live out their faith as well as the litigation efforts to protect equal opportunities for women in athletics. Since joining ADF in 2006, Scruggs has worked on and prevailed in a variety of cases that protect the right of people to freely express their faith in their business, at school, and in the public square. He earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona and Tennessee. Scruggs is also admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal district and appellate courts.

ABOUT Rachel Rouleau

Rachel Rouleau serves as legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, where she is a member of the Center for Conscience Initiatives. Rouleau joined the Conscience Team in 2020, where she focuses on protecting the conscience rights of individuals being unjustly forced to compromise their beliefs under threat of heavy fines and punishment. Prior to that, she was a First Year Lawyer Fellow in ADF’s new fellowship program. Rouleau earned her J.D. from William and Mary Law School in 2019. She obtained her B.A. in political science from the University of Florida in 2015. She is a member of the Massachusetts bar.