State of Tennessee v. Cardona
Description: The Biden administration’s unlawful attempt to rewrite Title IX threatens teachers and students’ privacy, safety, fairness, and free speech.
Victory for women, girls: Federal court rejects Biden admin redefinition of 'sex' in Title IX across country
COVINGTON, Ky. – A federal district court in Kentucky issued a decision Thursday in State of Tennessee v. Cardona that blocks the Biden administration’s unlawful attempt to change the meaning of “sex” in Title IX—a federal law designed to create equal opportunities for women in education and athletics—to include “gender identity.” Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys represent a West Virginia high-school female athlete and Christian Educators Association International in the lawsuit alongside the state of Tennessee. The district court ruling applies nationwide and to every part of the Biden Title IX rule, meaning the rule is completely invalidated, and the U.S. Department of Education is unable to enforce it—anywhere.
“This is a colossal win for women and girls across the country,” said ADF CEO, President, and General Counsel Kristen Waggoner. “The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights. With this ruling, the federal court in Kentucky rejected the entire Biden rule and the administration’s illegal actions. We are thankful for the leadership of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and other state attorneys general who challenged this blatant overreach alongside our courageous clients. This ruling provides enormous relief for students across the country, including our client who has already suffered harassment by a male student in the locker room and on her sports team. The U.S. Supreme Court can further protect girls like our client by granting cases brought by the ACLU against West Virginia and Idaho laws that protect women’s sports.”
On April 29, the Biden administration announced it would redefine “sex” in Title IX rules to include “gender identity,” requiring schools to disregard longstanding sex-based protections that respect the biological differences between men and women. ADF attorneys joined several states, women’s groups, athletic associations, and school boards in achieving five injunctions that halt enforcement of the rule change in some jurisdictions as the lawsuits proceed. The district court ruling halts the Biden rule nationwide. Along with ADF, the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, and West Virginia sued in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, which ruled the Biden administration rule change exceeded authority and was “arbitrary and capricious agency action.”
“[W]hen Title IX is viewed in its entirety, it is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female,” the court wrote in its opinion. “As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.”
“Title IX,” the court continued, allows “males and females to be separated based on the enduring physical differences between the sexes.”
The athlete client that ADF represents is a 15-year-old girl in West Virginia who was forced to compete against a male athlete on her middle school track-and-field team. The male displaced her several times, even taking away her spot to compete in a conference championship. The male athlete was also given access to the girls’ locker room, and the ADF client had to endure vulgar, sexual comments that the athlete directed at her. The male athlete finished ahead of nearly 300 female competitors in three years of competition on the girls’ team. That same male athlete is the plaintiff in the West Virginia case, now pending at the Supreme Court, that resulted in a ruling undermining West Virginia’s law protecting women’s sports.
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 Kristen Waggoner
As the CEO, president, and general counsel of Alliance Defending Freedom, Kristen Waggoner leads the faith-based organization in advancing every person's God-given right to live and speak the truth in the U.S. and around the world. She oversees more than 450 ADF team members in 10 global offices. Since 2011, ADF has won 15 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, three of which were argued by Waggoner: Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, Uzuebgunam v. Presczewski, and 303 Creative v. Elenis. ADF also has a strong record of international success at the European Court of Human Rights, United Nations, and other leading courts and tribunals and has secured the release of more than 1,000 imprisoned Christians. After clerking with Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders, Waggoner practiced law for over 16 years at a Seattle firm before joining ADF in 2013. She is Peer Review Rated AV® Preeminent™ in Martindale-Hubbell. Waggoner is a sought-after public speaker who often appears in national and international media outlets.
ABOUT Jake Warner
Jake Warner serves as senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is a key member of the Center for Conscience Initiatives. Since joining ADF in 2017, Warner has focused on protecting the conscience rights of individuals being unjustly forced to compromise their beliefs under threat of heavy fines and punishment. His practice also includes defending the freedom of Christians to exercise their faith in the marketplace without government interference. Prior to joining ADF, Warner served as a judicial law clerk to Senior United States District Judge Malcolm J. Howard in the Eastern District of North Carolina. Before his clerkship, Warner also engaged in private practice with the firm of Perry, Perry & Perry, in Kinston, North Carolina, where he primarily represented criminal defendants in both federal and state courts. Warner earned his J.D. at the Regent University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 2011. He obtained his B.A. in history and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2006. Warner is admitted to practice in Arizona, North Carolina, and the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as several federal district and appellate courts.
ABOUT Jonathan Scruggs
Jonathan Scruggs serves as senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy and the Center for Conscience Initiatives with Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, he identifies new litigation opportunities and develops new strategies for protecting free speech and religious liberty in collaboration with the chief legal counsel and litigation team directors. As the leader for the Center for Conscience Initiatives, Scruggs oversees the litigation team defending the rights of professionals and business owners to live out their faith as well as the litigation efforts to protect equal opportunities for women in athletics. Since joining ADF in 2006, Scruggs has worked on and prevailed in a variety of cases that protect the right of people to freely express their faith in their business, at school, and in the public square. He earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona and Tennessee. Scruggs is also admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal district and appellate courts.
ABOUT Rachel Rouleau
Rachel Rouleau serves as legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, where she is a member of the Center for Conscience Initiatives. Rouleau joined the Conscience Team in 2020, where she focuses on protecting the conscience rights of individuals being unjustly forced to compromise their beliefs under threat of heavy fines and punishment. Prior to that, she was a First Year Lawyer Fellow in ADF’s new fellowship program. Rouleau earned her J.D. from William and Mary Law School in 2019. She obtained her B.A. in political science from the University of Florida in 2015. She is a member of the Massachusetts bar.