Second Judge Halts Biden’s Title IX Rule in Six More States

Career Education Colleges and Universities | CECU

June 17, 2024

This morning, District Judge Danny C. Reeves of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky granted a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Biden Title IX Rule in the case Tennessee v. U.S. Department of Education. The injunction is limited to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which include the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia, as well as the Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) and an anonymous individual plaintiff. As a result, the injunction only appears to cover schools in those states (as well as individuals who are members of CEAI).

Last Thursday, a Federal District Court Judge in Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Rule in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho.

In addition, two rulings against the Department were issued last week in lawsuits against the Department’s Title IX guidance documents, which are fully applicable between now and August 1 (when the new Rule would go into effect). Last Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit published a panel decision affirming the preliminary injunction over the Department’s Title IX guidance in twenty states that was granted by the Eastern District of Tennessee in 2022. Last Tuesday, Judge Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted summary judgment to the state of Texas, vacating the Department’s Title IX guidance and declaring it unlawful.

CECU is reviewing these opinions and will continue to provide updates as the Title IX litigation moves forward.