Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Education is challenging a federal judge's decision to temporarily block the Biden administration's Title IX final rule in four states, according to a notice of appeal filed Monday in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

• Judge Terry Doughty's June 13 decision stopped the regulations protecting LGBTQ+ students from taking effect Aug. 1 in four states — Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho — as those states' case against the regulations proceeds.

• The Education Department's notice of appeal comes in the contentious back-and-forth over administration efforts to regulate protections for LGBTQ+ students under the landmark 1972 Title IX law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs.

Dive Insight:

In his decision for the Western District of Louisiana almost two weeks ago, Doughty said the conservative states challenging the rule are likely to succeed on their claims. 

The anti-sex discrimination statute "was created to apply to two sexes," the judge said. Moreover, he said, the Education Department's changes to include protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation under Title IX were carried out in a "hurried and sloppy manner."

In response to that decision, the Education Department had said it was "reviewing the ruling" and that it "stands by the final Title IX regulations." 

“The Department crafted the final Title IX regulations following a rigorous process to realize the Title IX statutory guarantee," a department spokesperson said in a June 14 statement to K-12 Dive.

Similar to other challenges against the rule, Louisiana's lawsuit claimed that the department overstepped its authority in finalizing the regulations and that they violate Title IX itself by infringing on women's protections. 

Just days after the Louisiana decision, another lawsuit filed by six conservative states also ended in a temporary block to the rule.

These cases were among a string of anticipated lawsuits filed by attorneys general in at least 15 conservative states shortly after the rule's release in April. 

They add to a slew of hurdles facing the department over its attempt to protect LGBTQ+ students from sex-based discrimination, including a resolution seeking to nullify the rule that is pending in Congress. 

However, Congress and President Joe Biden would both have to greenlight that resolution, making its success unlikely.