On November 15, 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and other petitioners including Speech First filed a reply brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear FIRE v. Victim Rights Law Center. The groups had joined the case to defend the 2020 Title IX rule, which required live cross-examination in college sexual misconduct hearings. A federal trial court in Massachusetts threw out a key provision of the rule without considering the groups’ constitutional arguments, and the U.S. Department of Education chose not to appeal.
The petitioners argued that the Department was using the ruling to sidestep the normal process for changing federal rules: it announced it would stop enforcing the provision nationwide, turning one trial court’s decision into a nationwide ban.
Read the full brief below:
