Tennessee Secures Final Victory Against Biden Administration’s Title IX Gender Ideology Rules

Tennessee Secures Final Victory Against Biden Administration's Title IX Gender Ideology Rules

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced today that interest groups have officially dropped their appeal of Tennessee's landmark Title IX victory, cementing a nationwide win for common sense, girls' privacy, and the rule of law.

The now-defeated rules would have forced schools to allow biological males into girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, threatened protections for women and girls under Title IX, and pressured teachers and school officials to use pronouns inconsistent with a student's biological sex.

After Tennessee and a coalition of states challenged the Biden Administration's Title IX rules, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky blocked the regulations from taking effect in the coalition states in June 2024. Then, in early 2025, the Court ruled that the rules were illegal and unconstitutional and struck them down nationwide. The Court found that the U.S. Department of Education exceeded its authority by attempting to rewrite federal law to impose sweeping gender ideology policies on schools across the country.

Interest groups attempted to intervene but are now dismissing their appeal, and the Court's decision stands as a final and decisive victory.

"This is a legacy win for Tennessee and for women and girls across our nation," said Tennessee Attorney General Skrmetti. "The Biden Administration tried to bypass Congress and rewrite Title IX through illegal rulemaking to advance a radical gender ideology that could not come close to majority support. The courts rejected that effort, and now the would-be intervenors have abandoned their appeal, thereby bringing the litigation to a decisive end. This victory slams the door on those unconstitutional rules and ensures that Title IX continues to protect equal opportunities and privacy rights for women and girls as Congress intended."

After all parties agreed to end the appeal permanently, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday granted their motion and dismissed the appeal, bringing the case to a close.

Tennessee led the legal challenge and was joined by Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio and Virginia.