Attorneys general from six Republican-leaning states — Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia — filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Education over its Title IX rule released last month. The nearly 800-page lawsuit follows three others already filed, totaling at least 15 states to have taken the administration to court so far over the new policy.
The latest filing echoes much in those that came before it. It claims the Education Department was “arbitrary and capricious” in finalizing the Title IX rule and that the agency acted outside of its power under the Constitution.
The attorneys general behind the lawsuits take issue with the final rule’s inclusion of LGBTQ+ students as protected from sex discrimination under the landmark Title IX civil rights law. The rule, released April 19, provides protections for LGBTQ+ students who are misgendered or otherwise bullied, for example.
However, opponents of the rule say it infringes on women’s rights and protections by including transgender students.
“The Biden Administration’s new rule would rip away 50 years of Title IX’s protections for women and put entire generations of young girls at risk,” said Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman in a statement announcing the latest lawsuit.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called it an “unconstitutional power grab.”
“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” said Skrmetti in a statement. “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.”
The legal actions by Skrmetti and other attorneys general follow through on warnings from conservative states prior to the release of the rule’s draft in 2022 to halt its regulatory revision or face legal action.
On Monday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also filed a lawsuit against the final rule, adding to two additional lawsuits filed in Texas and Alabama on the same day. All the lawsuits so far have similarly claimed that the Education Department stepped outside its authority with this rulemaking.
The U.S. Department of Education does not comment on pending litigation and has warned that schools that don’t comply with the rule, which goes into effect on Aug. 1, could risk losing federal funding.