Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that a court issued an order regarding the state's case, opened in 2023, against the Biden Administration's Title IX guidance. The verdict: the text has been annulled throughout the country and its application against Texas and its schools is prohibited, permanently.
A press release from Paxton's office noted:
Today, a court struck down the illegal guidance nationwide and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting its enforcement against Texas and its schools. This ruling ensures that no school district in the state of Texas will have to comply with the Biden Administration's interpretation of Title IX that includes gender identity requirements, including allowing men into women's restrooms or locker rooms or sports teams, or requiring students or teachers to use pronouns based on gender identity rather than biological sex.
Paxton commented in response to the ruling: "Joe Biden's illegal effort to weaponize Title IX for his extremist agenda has been halted. Threatening to withhold education funding by forcing states to accept 'transgender' policies that put women in danger was clearly illegal. Texas has prevailed on behalf of the entire nation."
The judge's decision
Judge for the Northern District of Texas, Reed O'Connor , wrote in the 112-page decision:
Because of this prohibition on sex discrimination, recipients of federal funds generally cannot discriminate based on someone's sex. However, nothing in the statute expressly prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or other unexpressed grounds. And when Title IX allows differentiation based on sex due to biological differences, such as intimate facilities and sports teams, recipients can treat people according to their biological sex without regard to subjective gender identity.
O'Connor stated that "a review of contemporary dictionaries does not support" the defendants' arguments that the phrase "sex" includes "gender identity." He added: "In 1972, 'sex' had an unambiguous binary meaning":
Title IX explicitly appreciates the innate biological variation between men and women that occasionally justifies differentiation, and even separation, to preserve educational opportunities and promote respect for both sexes (...) Instead of promoting equal opportunity, dignity and respect that Title IX requires for both biological sexes, the Defendants' Guidance Documents do the opposite in an effort to advance an agenda wholly divorced from the text, structure, and contemporary context of Title IX.
Title IX Guidance Injunctio... by Veronica Silveri
"The illegal action" of the Biden Administration
According to the court order, the Biden Administration's Title IX was an illegal action and opposes the American "democratic system":
[The Biden Administration] didn't follow proper procedures here. Instead of promoting the equality of opportunity, dignity, and respect that Title IX requires for both biological sexes, the [DOE's] Guidance Documents do the opposite in an effort to promote an agenda wholly divorced from the text, structure, and contemporary context of Title IX. Therefore, allowing [the Biden Administration's] illegal action to remain would be to functionally rewrite Title IX in a way that strikingly transforms American education and usurps an important question from Congress. This is not how our democratic system works.
Paxton filed the lawsuit in June 2023, against the Department of Education and its secretary Miguel Cardona, and the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland asking that the guidance be rescinded. He alleged that the rule "is not in accordance with the law and is above legal authority."
Filed Title IX Complaint by Veronica Silveri
