The U.S. Department of Education on Monday formally rescinded the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulation and restored the version written during President Donald Trump’s first term. The final rule, which Politico reported is expected to publish Tuesday, removes the 2024 language from the Code of Federal Regulations.
The 2024 rule had extended sex-discrimination protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. Federal courts had already blocked it. Eight courts enjoined it, and a federal district court vacated it nationwide on Jan. 9, 2025. Remaining litigation was dismissed in August, which the department says cleared the way for this final step.
The administration describes the change as housekeeping. An agency fact sheet says nothing changes in practice for students, parents and teachers, because the department has enforced the 2020 rule since early 2025. It also says the action reflects no new policy decisions.
The department’s messaging, however, has gone beyond that framing. The press release calls the Biden rule “illegal,” and the department’s social media accounts said the action puts into regulation that Title IX protections are based on sex, not gender identity. The rule does not define “sex” as biological sex, though Politico noted that other pending regulations would do so in response to a Trump executive order.
The 2020 rule, drafted under then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, requires colleges to handle formal sexual misconduct complaints through courtroom-style hearings. Both sides can call witnesses, challenge credibility and weigh evidence. It also narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and let schools use a higher standard of proof in campus discipline cases than Obama-era guidance allowed.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News’ OutKick the rule is “a full return to Title IX.” In a statement, she said the move reduces confusion and pledged to hold accountable schools that violate the rights, privacy or athletic opportunities of women and girls.
Enforcement has been aggressive. The department has secured agreements with the University of Pennsylvania and Wagner College to restore sex-separated sports and facilities. It has also created a joint Title IX investigations team with the Justice Department and referred cases involving California and Minnesota education agencies to prosecutors. It has moved to terminate Maine’s federal K-12 funding, and it placed five Northern Virginia school districts, which received more than $50 million in department funds, on reimbursement status.
Critics say the approach harms transgender students and undercuts protections for survivors of assault. Shiwali Patel of the National Women’s Law Center said the administration is “weaponizing Title IX to attack trans students.” Survivor advocates also argue that Trump-era policies have discouraged reporting and added hurdles to the complaint process.
The rule could also face legal challenges because it skipped the notice-and-comment process typical of Title IX rulemaking. DeVos’ 2020 rule drew more than 100,000 public comments, and former Secretary Miguel Cardona’s rule drew nearly three times that. Advocates told Politico they received no clarity on the rule’s aims during White House review.
Supporters see it differently. Bob Eitel, president of the Defense of Freedom Institute and a helper in crafting the 2020 regulation, said the Biden rule “deserved the gutting that it received in the courts.”
