On Tuesday, a federal court in Kansas issued an injunction preventing the Biden administration’s Title IX regulations from being implemented in four states. These regulations, which were set to take effect in August, broaden the scope of sex discrimination to encompass gender identity and pregnancy and prohibit single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms. Additionally, the regulations mandate that schools recognize students’ preferred gender pronouns. With this latest court decision, the enforcement of these rules is now halted in 14 states.
U.S. District Judge John Broomes, a Trump appointee, ruled in favor of attorneys general in Kansas, Alaska, Utah, and Wyoming, after they argued that Title IX was meant to protect biological women from discrimination in education. “The legislative history [of Title IX] supports a finding that the term ‘sex’ referred to biological sex,” Broomes wrote in his ruling. “One of the principal purposes of the statute was to root out discrimination against women in education. The legislative history shows that Congress was concerned about the unequal treatment between men and women for admissions opportunities, scholarships, and sports.”
Just the News added:
The lawsuit seeking the injunction was also filed on behalf of three private organizations: Moms for Liberty, Young America’s Foundation, and Female Athletes United. The injunction will also prohibit the new rules in schools that are attended by members of Young America’s Foundation and the children of Moms for Liberty members, across all 50 states.
“Gender ideology does not belong in public schools and we are glad the courts made the correct call to support parental rights,” Moms for Liberty founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in a statement shared with Just The News. “We will always stand up for the rights of parents and the protection of children.” She added: “All parents must have their voices heard and their right to raise their own children is part of the very fabric of a free America. The federal government has no right to claim our children as their own or to push parents out of the classroom.”
In addition, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach also celebrated the legal victory in a statement, according to the NBC News affiliate KSNT: “We have had many wins in court, but to me, this is the biggest one yet. [This] protects girls and women across the country from having their privacy rights and safety violated in bathrooms and locker rooms and from having their freedom of speech violated if they say there are only two sexes.” The rules have also been blocked in Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, and Idaho so far, among others.
It’s the second big court ruling against the Biden administration this week. On Monday, another federal judge appointed by Trump temporarily blocked the administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits on Monday, granting a victory to a coalition of more than a dozen states that contested the ban. Judge James Cain issued a preliminary injunction following a request from 16 Republican states, who argued that the climate initiative would negatively impact their economies.
In January, the Department of Energy halted all new approvals for LNG exports to countries not covered by Free Trade Agreements, aiming to evaluate the impact of new LNG projects on carbon emissions. Cain determined that federal officials did not adequately justify the necessity for the environmental review, which is anticipated to continue into early next year.
“Here, it appears that the DOE has failed to provide a more detailed justification for its halt of the approval process to conduct an update, especially considering that past precedent, which the applicants relied upon, allowed the approval of the applications to proceed when updates were made,” the judge wrote. The Biden administration’s decision to halt LNG approvals was “completely without reason or logic and is perhaps the epiphany of ideocracy,” he added.
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