Judge refuses to block federal Title IX rule opposed by Florida and other states

©2024 The News Service of Florida

Rejecting arguments by Florida and three other states, a federal judge Tuesday refused to grant a preliminary injunction against a new federal rule about sex-based discrimination in education programs.

U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon issued a 122-page decision that rejected a request by Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and four other plaintiffs to block the rule, which deals with Title IX, a landmark 1972 law that bars discrimination in education programs based on sex.

The states and other plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in April, alleging, in part, that the Biden administration overstepped its legal authority in extending Title IX regulations to apply to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

But Axon, who is based in Alabama, said the plaintiffs had not provided adequate arguments to obtain a preliminary injunction.

“Plaintiffs must, among other things, establish a substantial likelihood of success on the claims advanced in their complaint to obtain a preliminary injunction from this court,” wrote Axon, who was nominated to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump. “They failed to sustain that burden.”

Among other things, Axon wrote that the plaintiffs had not adequately backed up their claims that the Biden administration’s actions were arbitrary and capricious.

“The court highlights that at later stages in these proceedings, more carefully developed legal arguments and the benefit of a fuller evidentiary record might yield a different result,” Axon wrote. “But the court declines to exercise its discretion to grant the extraordinary relief (a preliminary injunction) plaintiffs have requested.”

The states and other plaintiffs immediately filed a notice of appealing the decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit contends that the rule could affect issues such as which bathrooms that transgender students can use in schools.

In announcing the rule this spring, the U.S. Department of Education said the measure will “fully effectuate Title IX’s promise that no person experiences sex discrimination in federally funded education.” The rule also has drawn legal challenges in other parts of the country.