Texas Schools Don’t Have to Comply With New Title IX Federal Rule on Gender, Judge Rules

Judge Reed O’Connor found that the defendants failed to follow the proper constitutional procedure in interpreting Title IX.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 23, 2024. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Texas public schools won’t have to comply with a new federal rule that adds “gender” to Title IX protections, a district judge has ruled, in a lawsuit brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The ruling by Texas District Judge Reed O’Connor finds that the defendants failed to follow the proper constitutional procedure in interpreting Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination, in order to advance “an agenda wholly divorced from the text, structure, and contemporary context of Title IX.”