Texas files lawsuit against Biden's reworked laws supporting LGBTQ+ students in a court favoring conservatives.
On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated a legal battle in a courthouse in Amarillo, Texas, ensuring the case would be entrusted to a conservative judge with a history of imposing national bans on federal policies. In 2020, this judge became famous for his ruling on a significant abortion case that is currently awaiting the Supreme Court's verdict.
Paxton intends to prevent the Biden administration from implementing changes to Title IX, a 1972 federal law that strictly prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools that accept federal funds. The lawsuit insists the government violated federal regulations for implementing new rules.
The federal rule aims to mitigate discrimination against people based on "sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics." It's slated to become effective in August.
In the 30-page complaint submitted by Texas attorneys, they assert that allowing the new rules to take effect could severely harm the state.
"Texas educational institutions depend on federal funding and will suffer irreparable damage if they lose their funding due to their reliance on 50 years of Title IX practice and legal precedent interpreting 'on the basis of sex' as referring to biological sex, not 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity,'" the filing states.
Responding to the lawsuit, a Department of Education spokesperson remarked that they had meticulously adhered to "a rigorous process to fully actualize the Title IX statutory promise that nobody faces sex discrimination in federally-funded education."
The spokesperson, Vanessa Harmoush, added, "We're excited to partner with school communities across the country to ensure the Title IX guarantee of nondiscrimination in education is experienced by every student."
Judge-shopping tactics
Earlier in the year, the policymaking body of the federal judiciary introduced a recommendation aiming to control judge-shopping practices, a strategy where litigants deliberately file lawsuits in courts believed to have judges who favor their arguments.
Under the new rules, such cases seeking nationwide or statewide orders would be allocated through the district's lottery system. However, the chief judge of the federal trial-level district encompassing Amarillo stated that the court won't implement the new proposals at present. Paxton's case is currently under Kacsmaryk's jurisdiction, a former Trump appointee who has previously ruled against Biden administration measures to strengthen anti-discrimination protections in health care for the LGBTQ+ community.
In the recent weeks, the Biden administration has been working to enhance LGBTQ+ community protections. The Title IX changes, introduced a week before the Department of Health and Human Services revealed new anti-discrimination regulations in health care, were described by the administration as representing "a sizeable step towards an increasingly equitable and inclusive healthcare system."
(This story has been updated with more information.)
Tierney Sneed, DJ Judd, and Avery Lotz from CNN contributed to this report.
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Source: edition.cnn.com
