Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys, on behalf of Carroll Independent School District, are suing the Biden administration over its Title IX rewrite.
Last month, the Biden administration released a nearly 1,500-page rewrite of Title IX rules—the federal civil rights law designed to prohibit sex-based discrimination in education.
The new version would add “gender identity” as a protected class. It would also force schools to allow biological males to use female spaces. If a school refuses to comply, federal funding would be withheld.
Last week, the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved a motion for its legal council, ADF, to “proceed with litigation against all necessary parties related to proposed changes to Title 9 and their effect on Carroll ISD.”
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, states that the rule will injure Carroll ISD and “impose immediate and long-lasting harm on Carroll ISD as well as its staff and students and their parents.”
“The Rule creates new risks for Carroll ISD because it could lose federal funding, incur significant burdens and costs, or face liability,” reads the lawsuit. “Failure to follow the Rule and its interpretation of Title IX risks liability for Carroll ISD under a cause of action in civil litigation, including in suits brought by private individuals. Additionally, Title IX complaints have already been filed against Carroll ISD and other Texas school districts under the interpretation that ‘sex’ includes ‘gender identity’ and ‘sexual orientation.’”
ADF attorneys also assert that the rule and the interpretation of it will directly conflict with Texas law on biological boys competing against girls.
The Rule, Interpretation, and Fact Sheet directly conflict with Texas law on sports. This collision forces Carroll ISD to choose between, on the one hand, following what the Rule demands on sports in violation of Texas law and, on the other hand, ignoring what the Rule says to comply with Texas law. Either way, Carroll ISD is exposed to liability.
ADF attorney Mathew Hoffman said the lawsuit is necessary to protect Carroll ISD and its students.
“The Biden administration’s radical redefinition of ‘sex’ in Title IX upends our education system. Carroll Independent School District is right to seek to preserve safety and privacy for the girls—and all students—under its supervision,” said Hoffmann. “The administration continues to ignore biological reality, science, and common sense. This dangerous and unnecessary rule change will have devastating consequences for students, teachers, administrators, and families, and we urge the court to preserve Title IX as it has stood for decades—for the privacy, safety, and equal opportunities for all.”
Attorney General Ken Paxton also filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration last month after the rewrite was released, saying the new rule infringes on Texas’ sovereignty by “imposing substantial pressure on Texas to change its laws and policies.”
Unless the legal challenges are successful, the new rule will take effect on August 1, 2024.
