Rapides Parish School Board v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Description: Rapides Parish School Board in Louisiana is challenging five Biden administration mandates that radically redefine "sex" to include "gender identity."
ADF files lawsuit challenging five illegal Biden mandates redefining 'sex' in federal law
ALEXANDRIA, La. – On behalf of a Louisiana school board serving more than 20,000 students, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the Biden administration for an unlawful and sweeping rewrite of five federal laws and policies to include “gender identity” in the definition of “sex.”
Rapides Parish School Board, which has 42 school campuses that provide pre-K to 12th-grade public education, cares for needy children through several federally funded programs. These include kids from birth to age four in the Head Start program, kids of many ages in child nutrition programs including the National School Lunch Program, and kids who need medical services in school clinics through Medicaid. But during the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission imposed sweeping mandates that force school districts who care for kids in these programs to ignore the biological distinction between male and female in favor of “an individual’s sense of their gender.” ADF attorneys explain these illegal actions harm the children the government claims it’s helping.
“The outgoing Biden administration’s radical redefinition of sex puts school districts in an impossible situation,” said ADF Senior Counsel Matt Bowman, director of regulatory practice. “Rapides Parish School Board seeks to uphold student privacy, safety, and equal opportunities for women and girls. These mandates demand that the school board lose critical funding or erase the protections it has for its students. We are urging the court to stand up for biological reality in the face of unlawful rule changes that will have devastating consequences for students, teachers, administrators, and families.”
In a similar case, ADF attorneys represent the same school district in challenging the U.S. Department of Education for rewriting the definition of “sex” in Title IX. The district’s case was joined to State of Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Education, which is one of six cases in which federal courts have halted the Biden administration’s attempt to rewrite Title IX before the rule change was ultimately blocked nationwide by a federal district court in Kentucky. ADF attorneys are seeking to secure further protection for students, parents, teachers, and school officials by challenging the other, similar illegal mandates issued by federal agencies under President Biden.
Rapides Parish School Board v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Alexandria Division.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT Matt Bowman
Matt Bowman serves as senior counsel and director of regulatory practice for Alliance Defending Freedom, where he leads the team focusing on the impact of administrative law on religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and family. From 2017 to 2020, Bowman was a senior executive service appointee in the Trump administration, serving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as Deputy General Counsel, and then in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to joining HHS, Bowman was an accomplished litigator at ADF for over ten years. Before joining ADF in 2006, Bowman served as a law clerk for Judges Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Michael A. Chagares, at the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and for Judge John M. Roll at the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Bowman earned his J.D. summa cum laude and was first in his class at Ave Maria School of Law in 2003. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and Michigan and is admitted to practice at the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal appellate and district courts.