Judge Declines to Narrow Title IX Injunction Affecting Hundreds of Colleges

A federal judge denied the Biden administration’s request to narrow or delay a recent court hold blocking the Education Department from enforcing its new Title IX rule at hundreds of colleges across the country. 

The temporary injunction earlier this month from Judge John Broomes of the District of Kansas applied to Alaska, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming as well as any school or college attended by members of the conservative organizations Young America’s Foundation, Female Athletes United and Moms for Liberty. Just over 670 colleges and universities across 50 states and territories were affected by the order, according to a court filing. The new regulations, which strengthen protections for LGBTQ+ students, take effect Aug. 1, had already been blocked in 11 other states.

The organizations have used the injunction to recruit new members, potentially expanding the reach of the court order to more institutions. Lawyers for the Biden administration argued that Broomes should restrict the injunction to the colleges where the organizations had members at the time of his ruling.

Broomes said Friday that all current and prospective members are entitled to relief, and that supplemental notices listing more schools and colleges “may be appropriate as the case progresses,” noting that “individuals are free to join or leave an organization whenever they so choose.”

Broomes said that if the injunction makes enforcement more difficult, then that’s a problem of the department’s own making.

“One might have expected that upending the operations of virtually every school in the nation by upsetting the decades-long understanding of important parts of Title IX, as the final rule does, would result in some significant difficulties for enforcement while the final rule undergoes judicial review,” the judge wrote.

He added that the department has the authority to delay the rule from taking effect Aug. 1.

“Maybe [the Education Department] should use that authority,” he wrote.