Supreme Court blocks Biden administration rules against gender discrimination in schools

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to partially limit two lower court orders that had blocked the Biden administration's new rules against gender discrimination in schools that receive federal funding.

The court's decision effectively blocks the federal government from enforcing parts of its new anti-discrimination rules while litigation protecting transgender students plays out in lower courts. Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the court's three liberals in expressing their dissent and would have allowed the unchallenged provisions of the rule package to take effect on Aug. 1 as scheduled.

The litigation concerns rule changes by the Department of Education that are intended to strengthen protections for students and employees under the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in all schools and other educational programs that receive federal funds. Although the rule changes contain many uncontroversial provisions, two federal judges, one in Louisiana and the other in Kentucky, have issued sweeping rulings that prevent the entire package of rules from being implemented in 10 states. The main reason for this is three provisions that protect transgender students.

This in turn prompted Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar to ask the Supreme Court to overturn the release of those rules that not challenged, while the transgender provisions are being heard in the lower courts.

“The lower court's haphazard approach … is both wrong and consequential,” she said, adding that many unchallenged provisions of the new Title IX rules should be implemented immediately.

At the same time, she stressed that the government is not asking the Supreme Court to enforce the transgender provisions until the legal challenges to these provisions have been resolved. She also acknowledged that a decision could ultimately be made by the Supreme Court itself.

“These provisions raise important issues that will be litigated on appeal and that may require resolution by this Court in the normal course of action,” she wrote.

In the meantime, however, the Ministry of Education should not be prohibited from “implementing dozens of provisions” that are not being challenged, said Prelogar. These include provisions on how schools should deal with allegations of sexual harassment and how schools should protect pregnant students and staff.

However, the Supreme Court declined to intervene and allowed the lower courts' orders to stand in full, making the new rules unenforceable in the ten states affected by the lower courts' orders. Justices Gorsuch, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying they would have allowed the unchallenged provisions to take effect immediately.

Supporters of the Supreme Court's decision, including the states that filed the lawsuit, had argued that even partial implementation of the package of rules would place an undue burden on schools and violate states' rights. The 10 states are Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho.

Challenges to the transgender regulations are still pending in Texas, Kansas, Alabama, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Copyright: NPR