A federal judge in St. Louis on Wednesday halted implementation of a Biden administration rule expanding protections for LGBTQ students, joining a growing number of U.S. courts that have issued similar orders.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Rodney W. Sippel of the Eastern District of Missouri was handed down on May 7 in a lawsuit filed by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and the attorneys general of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Sippel’s order prohibits the U.S. Department of Education, Secretary Miguel Cardona and others “from taking any action to implement, enact, enforce, or enforce” the non-discrimination rules that the department has promulgated and are scheduled to take effect Aug. 1. The order halts implementation of the rules until the litigation is finally resolved.
The rule protects all students from discrimination on the basis of sex in educational activities and programs, but opponents have focused on extending those protections to transgender students.
At a press conference announcing the lawsuit in May, Griffin, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and a 15-year-old student-athlete from the Jonesboro area named as a plaintiff focused on that aspect of the rules.
Griffin said in a statement Wednesday that Sippel’s “verdict is a victory for women and girls in Arkansas and across the nation.”
“Congress enacted Title IX to protect and advance educational opportunities for women and girls,” Griffin said, again focusing on concerns that transgender girls would be allowed into women’s and girls’ locker rooms and on girls’ sports teams.
The ruling also “protects teachers, administrators and students from the threat of investigation and sanctions for opposing the Biden-Harris Administration’s gender ideology — and comes just before the school year is set to begin,” Griffin said.
Missouri joins five other states in federal lawsuit over Title IX transgender protections
The lawsuit, filed by Arkansas and five other states, argues that the Department of Education is overstepping its authority by rewriting the law, that the rule violates the First Amendment, is arbitrary and capricious in violation of “decades” of understanding about Title IX, and creates “real controversy” by redefining “sex” to include gender identity.
Judge Sippel’s ruling noted that his ruling is consistent with other federal court decisions that have blocked enforcement of the Title IX rule. More than 20 Republican attorneys general have sued over the rule, and at least two federal appeals courts have upheld lower court decisions similar to the one handed down Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana issued a preliminary injunction on June 14 blocking revised Title IX policies from taking effect in Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana on August 1. The order was upheld by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati also upheld a district court’s injunction against the Title IX rules, which affect 20 states, including Oklahoma.
According to SCOTUSblog, the Biden administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily put a hold on parts of two injunctions affecting 10 states issued by federal courts in Louisiana and Kentucky. Federal appeals courts in New Orleans and Cincinnati denied the Education Department’s request to allow it to temporarily enforce the rule, except for two provisions targeting discrimination against transgender students, while the appeals continue.
This story was originally published by The Arkansas Advocate, an affiliate of The States Newsroom.
