Fitch leads amicus brief opposing Title IX rule
Aug 2, 2024- Today, Attorney General Lynn Fitch led a multistate amicus brief at the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals supporting a challenge to the Biden administration’s attempt to transform Title IX, to transfer control of education to federal bureaucrats, and to eliminate common sense protections for women’s privacy, safety, and opportunity.
“Title IX has changed the game for women and girls, especially for female athletes across our country,” said Fitch. “For 50 years, it has given girls an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and offered them a fair chance to excel. The Biden administration’s pursuit of an extreme political agenda will destroy decades of progress and wipe away important gains. I am proud to stand with my colleagues from 26 states as we fight to protect women’s privacy, safety, and opportunity.”
The new, illegal Title IX rule would rewrite Title IX’s prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sex to include sexual orientation and gender identity. This would apply burdensome new requirements to schools, colleges, and universities in Mississippi, and across the nation; force schools to allow biological males into girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms, and other private spaces or else divert dollars meant for education to building new facilities; and compel girls to compete with biological men for athletic opportunities.
The rule was scheduled to take effect nationwide on August 1, 2024, but has been enjoined to some degree by at least six federal courts. This amicus brief was filed following the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama’s decision to deny a motion filed by the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina to block the new Title IX rule from taking effect.
The amicus brief explains, “Extending Title IX beyond biological sex would hand to federal agencies—and strip from the people—power over politically significant questions on sexual orientation and gender identity. It would empower the Department of Education to require schools to force boys and girls to share bathrooms, locker rooms, and other intimate spaces with those of the opposite sex. It would allow Washington-based functionaries to end the longstanding practice—necessary for equal opportunity, competitive integrity, and physical safety—of separating school athletics based on sex.”
In addition to Fitch, the brief was joined by the Attorneys General of Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Along with Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, all 27 Republican Attorneys General are challenging the Administration’s unlawful Title IX rule.
To read the full amicus brief, click HERE.
