Federal Judge Blocks Biden Administration’s Title IX Rules in 4 States

The ruling was the first salvo in a national legal battle over the new regulations, which extend stronger protections to L.G.B.T.Q. students.

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Protesters at a Title IX rally in Washington last December. The new rules, which the Education Department released in April, sought to curb discrimination or harassment of students based on their gender identity.

The Biden administration’s new Title IX regulations that expanded protections for L.G.B.T.Q. students have been temporarily blocked in four states after a federal judge ruled that the Education Department overstepped its authority.

The order from Judge Terry A. Doughty, a district court judge in Louisiana, on Thursday placed a preliminary injunction on the enforcement of the rules in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho, which have all challenged the regulations.

The plaintiffs argued that the Biden administration’s interpretation of Title IX betrayed the law’s original purpose of prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex.

The new rules, which the Education Department released in April, disallow discrimination or harassment of students based on their gender identity, enshrining stronger protections for transgender students. However, the rules skirted some of the most divisive questions, stopping short of requiring schools to grant transgender students access to single-sex dorms or sports teams.

Republican attorneys general challenging the law have argued, and Judge Doughty agreed, that the rule could violate the privacy and safety of female students by allowing “biological men who identify as a female” into facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity.

The rule broadly holds that instances where schools deny students that access, or where staff members do not observe transgender students’ preferred pronouns or chosen gender identity, could create a hostile environment that the Education Department could investigate.

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