Posted on 05/01/2024 8:50:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A group of six Republican state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s Department of Education on Tuesday over what they said were “radical and illegal” changes to Title IX rules.
The lawsuit, led by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
In their legal filing, the GOP attorneys general argued that the department overstepped its authority when rolling out new updates to Title IX rules that expanded protections to students by incorporating gender identity into the legal text.
They further claimed the changes to the rules override state laws and will harm Tennessee students, families, and schools. The attorneys general called on the court to pause and overturn the newly expanded policy.
“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” Mr. Skrmetti said in a statement.
“In the decades since its adoption, Title IX has been universally understood to protect the privacy and safety of women in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms. Federal bureaucrats have no power to rewrite laws passed by the people’s elected representatives, and I expect the courts will put a stop to this unconstitutional power grab.”
Mr. Coleman, meanwhile argued the new changes to Title IX rules would “rip away 50 years of Title IX’s protections for women and put entire generations of young girls at risk.”
“As Attorney General, it is my duty to protect the people of Kentucky. As a Dad, it is my duty to protect my daughters,” Mr. Coleman said. “Today, I do both.”
The Kentucky attorney general added that his office is joining the lawsuit to “lead this fight for our daughters, granddaughters, nieces, and all the women of our Commonwealth.”
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a longstanding policy designed to protect people from discrimination based on sex in schools.
Specifically, the protections prohibit sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding, either directly or indirectly, from the federal government.
However, the Department of Education last week rolled out newly updated Title IX rules that include expanded protections for LGBTQ students for the first time.
Under the updated rules, the prohibition against discrimination based on “sex” has been updated to include a prohibition against discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sex-related characteristics (including intersex traits), pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
The new rules also dictate that any K-12 school or institution of higher education that receives any federal funding may not separate or treat individuals differently based on sex “in a manner that subjects that person to more than de minimis harm,” which Republicans say will lead to shared bathrooms, locker rooms and more.
It does, however, clarify that such separations are allowed “in the context of sex-separate living facilities and sex-separate athletic teams.”
The rules also state that all “non-confidential” school employees are required to notify a Title IX coordinator if they learn of any violations.
According to the Biden administration, the new regulations are set to take effect on Aug. 1.
President Joe Biden (R) speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, on June 30, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
In a statement announcing the newly updated rules, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said they “build on the legacy of Title IX by clarifying that all our nation’s students can access schools that are safe, welcoming, and respect their rights.”
“The final regulations promote educational equity and opportunity for students across the country as well as accountability and fairness while empowering and supporting students and families,” the department said.
However, the attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee claim the new rules could put schools at risk of losing federal education funding, including access to free and reduced lunch programs and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) grants if they fail to abide by them.
The new rules would also require K-12 schools, colleges, and universities to “allow males identifying as females access to women’s sports, bathrooms and locker rooms,” they said.
“Under this radical and illegal attempt to rewrite the statute, if a man enters a woman’s locker room and a woman complains that makes her uncomfortable, the woman will be subject to investigation and penalties for violating the man’s civil rights,” Mr. Skrmetti said.
“Federal bureaucrats have no power to rewrite laws passed by the people’s elected representatives, and I expect the courts will put a stop to this unconstitutional power grab.”
The attorneys general of Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia have also joined the lawsuit with Tennessee and Kentucky.
It marks the latest lawsuit against the new Title IX changes after Republican attorneys general from nine states including Alabama and Louisiana filed similar legal challenges against the newly updated protections on Monday.
The Texas attorney general also has filed a lawsuit against the expanded rules, calling them “unlawful” and claiming they mandate schools comply with a “radical gender ideology.”
Eliminate the Dept. of Education. End FedMob involvement in education entirely.
Can’t everyone see that all they want is pedophilias to be the norm in our country. These Democrats are as sick and morally bankrupted as you can get. I have come to the point, that I actually hate democrats. If you are a democrat you are a piece of Sh!t, even if your my mother. The divide is here to stay and there is no coming back!
S T A L K I N G
p
To which the womyn (not women) reply "Thanks, but we're voting dem anyway."
We are fighting evil... President Sniffer and his goons are supporting this deviancy...
As long as districts are using federal money to keep them afloat, Deep State has districts by their financial short-hairs.
Refuse to comply?
There goes your funding.
If locals really mean what they say about saving their kids, the locals better have a plan for when Deep State lowers the boom.
Deep State has lot of help.
At every level of federal, state, and local government and bureaucracy.
Demorats are evil, pure and simple. When their party took all mention of God out of their charter, their cover was blown and their fate was sealed, as is the USA if the rat party takes complete control.
Republicans could win across the country and from the ground up if we had leadership in the RNC
Here’s the stand I think is rational.
If you as a governor say you “will not abide by this new edict,” you DO NOT SUE IN COURT. To say you will not abide and then sue in court is irrational. To take it to court is an implicit consent to abide by what that court you appeal to finally rules. You cannot submit to a court and then say you will not abide by the court’s decision if it’s adverse to your position.
You either take it to court, risking losing, or you simply refuse to obey the Biden order, with all of the baggage that implies.
It was implied in my post that FedMob funding should end too.
I used to think as soon as the rats were facing the prospect of their 14 year old daughters having to shower with some creeps pretending to be female this BS would stop. I was wrong
bttt
Right, throwing this to the unreliable courts is an act of cowardice. When they lose they will get in front of the cameras and say we tried when they should draw the line and refuse to enact this outrages BS.
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