The Biden administration’s effort to inject “gender identity” into Title IX was already pretty dead, but now it’s really dead.
The progressive groups attempting to resuscitate the 2024 regulatory overhaul finally threw in the towel this month, entering a series of joint agreements to drop their appeals and have their cases dismissed.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday issued a notice of dismissal in the case brought by four states – Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina – as well as conservative groups including Defending Education and the Independent Women’s Network.
Sarah Parshall Perry, Defending Education vice president and senior legal counsel, cheered the demise of the Biden-era rule, which sought to insert “gender identity” into Title IX, the federal law banning discrimination in education based on sex.
“At long last the national nightmare that was Biden’s Title IX rewrite has come to a victorious close,” Ms. Perry said in a Thursday statement.
“We are incredibly pleased that the court accepted our recommendation that the appeal be dismissed as moot, preventing future intervenors and closing out any further attempts to defend a rule that was a violation of civil rights, Constitutional, and administrative law,” she added.
Issued in April 2024, the Title IX redo was cheered by gender-identity advocates, who said it would protect transgender students by banning “misgendering” and allowing them to use single-sex facilities and programs based on gender identity.
The heyday didn’t last. Federal courts quickly blocked the rule from taking effect. Then President Trump took office in January 2025.
That same month, the Department of Education announced that it would abide by the 2020 Title IX regulations, not the Biden-era overhaul, declaring that “sex” does not include “gender identity” under the federal civil-rights law.
A pair of left-wing nonprofits – the Victims Rights Law Center and A Better Balance – sought to intervene in defense of the Biden rule, but gave up the fight this month, entering into a series of joint motions to end their appeals.
Two weeks ago, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed their appeal in the lawsuit brought by a six-state coalition led by Tennessee.
“This is a legacy win for Tennessee and for women and girls across our nation,” said Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti in a May 14 statement.
“The Biden Administration tried to bypass Congress and rewrite Title IX through illegal rulemaking to advance a radical gender ideology that could not come close to majority support. The courts rejected that effort, and now the would-be intervenors have abandoned their appeal, thereby bringing the litigation to a decisive end,” he said.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on May 19 dismissed the appeal brought by the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, an outcome celebrated by the district as a “significant legal victory.”
At the forefront of the legal battle was the Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative legal group that won five court orders blocking the Biden-rule rewrite.
“ADF is glad to help bury this unlawful rule for good, and we commend the attorneys general, our courageous clients, and allied organizations who fought tirelessly for the truth,” said ADF senior counsel Jonathan Scruggs in a statement.
The alliance said its clients included “female students, teachers, women’s groups, and school boards who joined state attorneys general in successfully halting enforcement of the Biden-era rule change.”
