On September 3 and 4, 2024, NWLC submitted amicus briefs in two Title IX cases: Kansas v. United States Department of Education in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and Louisiana v. United States Department of Education in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. NWLC and Democracy Forward coauthored the briefs, which argue that the respective district courts erred in granting the plaintiffs preliminary injunctions that blocked enforcement of the Department of Education’s newly promulgated rule implementing Title IX in multiple states and individual schools across the country: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Sex in Education Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, 89 Fed. Reg. 33474, 33476 (Apr. 29, 2024) (the “Rule”).
 
As the briefs explain, the Rule provides, among other things, that the scope of prohibited sex discrimination under Title IX includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Schools must therefore permit transgender students to use school facilities, such as locker rooms and restrooms, consistent with their gender identity. In challenging the Rule, the briefs argue, the plaintiffs drew on baseless fears and stereotypes to conjure up the specter of harm to the privacy and safety of cisgender students, when the reality is that no such threat exists. In fact, available data reflects that it is transgender students who are most at risk when schools do not permit them to use facilities that align with their affirmed gender, while the mere presence of transgender students in gender-aligned spaces presents no credible threat to their cisgender peers. The district courts uncritically accepted the respective plaintiffs’ baseless allegations in granting the injunctions at issue here, which also contravene most of the established legal precedent prior to the Rule’s promulgation. Thus, the briefs argue, the Fifth and Tenth Circuits should reverse the district courts’ decisions granting the injunctions.