Texas sues Biden administration over expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students in conservative-friendly court
CNN
The state of Texas is suing the Biden administration over recently announced federal protections for LGBTQ+ students, arguing the Department of Education overstepped its authority by expanding the scope of a landmark anti-sex discrimination law.
The state of Texas is suing the Biden administration over recently announced federal protections for LGBTQ+ students, arguing the Department of Education overstepped its authority by expanding the scope of a landmark anti-sex discrimination law. The lawsuit brought Monday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was filed at a courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, in a move that guaranteed its assignment to a conservative judge who has a history of issuing nationwide injunctions against federal policies, with his most notable ruling coming last year in a major abortion case that is now before the Supreme Court. Paxton is asking US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to block the Biden administration from enforcing changes to Title IX, the 1972 federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal aid. The lawsuit claims that the Biden administration violated federal rulemaking procedures when it went through the process for issuing the new rule. Among other things, the new federal rule aims to curb discrimination “based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,” according to the department. The rule is set to take effect in August. Attorneys for Texas wrote in the 30-page complaint that the state would be “harmed” if the new rules are allowed to take effect.