by COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education WriterFILE - Demonstrators advocating for transgender rights and healthcare stand outside of the Ohio Statehouse on Jan. 24, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. Republican states are filing a barrage of legal challenges against the Biden administration's newly expanded campus sexual assault rules, saying they overstep the president's authority and undermine the Title IX anti-discrimination law.
Texas' lawsuit called it a federal overreach that attempts to bring “radical social change” to the nation's schools. Attorney General Ken Paxton argued the 1972 law was meant to forbid discrimination based on “biological sex” only. A lawsuit filed in Alabama says the expansion conflicts with state laws around “harassment, bathrooms, sports, parental rights, and more,” calling it a violation of “sovereign authority.” Florida, Georgia and South Carolina also backed the suit.
A suit filed in Louisiana said the policy “cannot help but sound the death knell for female sports.” Joining that suit were Mississippi, Montana and Idaho. Among other things, the suits also take exception with the new policy changes dictating how schools and colleges must handle complaints of sexual assault.