A federal judge dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit that sought to block Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s rules dictating how K-12 schools and colleges must respond to reports of sexual misconduct under the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs.
DeVos announced the new Title IX rules in early May, which replaced an Obama-era civil rights directive that she revoked in September 2017. The new guidelines focus on guaranteeing those accused of sexual misconduct with due process protections, such as the presumption of innocence, live hearings, and cross-examination of the accusers. It also adopted a stricter definition of sexual harassment based on a 1999 Supreme Court decision.
