Appeals court blocks Title IX rule protecting LGBTQ children, overturns Alabama federal judge’s ruling • New Hampshire Bulletin

Just a day after a federal judge rejected an attempt by Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to halt enforcement of the Biden administration’s final Title IX rules, a federal appeals court on Wednesday granted the states’ request for an administrative injunction — temporarily blocking the updated rules from taking effect in those Southern states.

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, issued on the eve of the updated rules taking effect, brings the total number of states where the rule is temporarily blocked to 26.

The administration’s rules, which aim to expand federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ students, have faced a wave of Republican opposition since they were announced by the Education Department in April.

The final rules are due to come into force on Thursday, but legal uncertainty is growing.

“This is a major victory in our fight to protect children,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said in a statement after the appeals court ruling. “We argued that the Biden administration lacked the authority to make this change, and with this temporary injunction, we now have time to present our case in court without putting our children in danger.”

The 11th Circuit decision overturned a victory for proponents of the final ruling in federal court in Alabama on Tuesday.

In a 122-page opinion, Judge Annemarie Carney Axon of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama wrote that “in short, while Plaintiffs may dislike the Department’s regulations, they have failed to show a substantial likelihood of success in proving that the Department’s regulations were unreasonable or lacked a rational explanation.”

Axon, appointed by then-President Donald Trump, also wrote that “the evidence is sparse and the legal arguments are general and underdeveloped.”

In late April, a group of Southern states, all with GOP attorneys general, sued the administration in federal court in Alabama over the regulations. A number of organizations joined the lawsuit, including the Independent Women’s Law Center, the Independent Women’s Network, Parents Defending Education and Speech First.

That same day, they quickly appealed Tuesday’s decision to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a statement Tuesday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said, “We are surprised by the district court’s decision today to deny the state’s request to immediately halt Biden’s Title IX demotion.”

He added that “the young women of Alabama deserve better.”

Since the department published its final rule, a total of 26 states have signed lawsuits seeking to block the updated rules from taking effect.

Multiple temporary injunctions also prevented the final rule from being implemented in the following states: Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

On Wednesday, Judge Jodi W. Dishman of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma halted the final rule from taking effect in the state. Oklahoma individually sued the administration in May.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond praised the ruling, saying, “Our students deserve the protections that Title IX has long provided,” according to a statement released Wednesday.

To complicate matters further, when Judge John Broomes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas temporarily blocked the measure in the Sunflower State, Alaska, Utah and Wyoming in early July, he also extended it to “schools attended by members of Young America’s Foundation or Female Athletes United, as well as schools attended by children of members of Moms for Liberty” — all of which groups sued along with those four states.

That means the final rule is on hold in schools across the country, including in states that never challenged the updated regulations. Despite Axon’s ruling Tuesday, the final rule was still set to be on hold in any K-12 school or college in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina that is affected by the earlier Kansas decision.

The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Janelle Stecklein assisted in the preparation of this report.