Injunction Allows Some – But Not All – Michigan Schools to Pause Implementation of New Title IX Regulations

In less than three weeks, on August 1, 2024, the new Title IX regulations issued by the United States Department of Education (“the Final Rule”) are set to go into effect.  But due to legal challenges by individual states and national advocacy organizations, the Final Rule won’t be implemented nationwide.

To date, fifteen states – Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, Alaska, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, and Texas – have obtained injunctions preventing the USDOE from enforcing the Final Rule within their boundaries.  One of those injunctions was upheld by the Sixth Circuit yesterday.

Also, a federal district court in Kansas recently ruled that OCR may not enforce the 2024 Title IX regulations against any school attended by (1) children of Moms for Liberty members; (2) members of Female Athletes United; or (3) members of Young America’s Foundation.  The Kansas court required those organizations to submit a list of schools where their members (or members’ children) attend by July 15, 2024.  That list includes nine K-12 schools in Michigan and nearly 700 colleges and universities nationwide.  (The list may be found here: [link].)

Notably, the Kansas court’s injunction only prohibits the USDOE from implementing or enforcing the Final Rule against schools covered by the injunction; it does not prohibit the covered schools from voluntarily following the Final Rule.  Those schools therefore face a choice – voluntarily comply with the 2024 regulations or continue following the current regulations.

For those schools not covered by an injunction, USDOE has given no indication that it will halt enforcement of the Final Rule.

To assist schools who are still required – or have chosen – to comply with the new regulations, Miller Johnson has compiled model policies, resources, and training videos, which will be available before the regulations go into effect.  All resources will be available by July 19, 2024, and training videos will be available by July 26, 2024.

For information about resources available to post-secondary schools, please click here.

For information about resources available for K-12 schools, please click here.