On July 30, 2024, Parents Defending Education (PDE) and its partners filed an emergency motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. The plaintiffs, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and four groups that represent students, asked the court for a short-term “administrative injunction.” It would stop the U.S. Department of Education from enforcing its new Title IX rule in those four states until the court could rule on a longer-lasting injunction.
The rule was set to take effect on August 1, 2024, at schools that receive federal money. It would require schools to:
- let males use female restrooms
- let males shower and undress in front of females in locker rooms
- let males box and wrestle females in P.E. class
- let males room with females on overnight trips
- punish students who refuse to use someone’s “preferred pronouns”
- punish students who express “offensive” views on same-sex marriage, abortion, gender identity, or other controversial topics
The motion argued:
- Time was running out. The district court took weeks to rule and then denied relief on July 30, leaving the plaintiffs just hours to seek help before the rule took effect. Schools would also have to rush to adopt the rest of the 423-page rule, update policies, retrain staff, and sort out conflicts with state laws.
- Every other court had blocked the rule. Before this case, the rule was “0-8 in court.” Courts had blocked it in at least 26 states, and two federal appeals courts let those orders stand. This district court was the first to uphold it.
- The rule conflicts with this court’s own decisions. Eleventh Circuit precedent on bathrooms (Adams v. School Board of St. Johns County), gender identity, and free speech cuts against the rule. The Department even admitted in the rule that it “declines to adopt the Eleventh Circuit’s reasoning in Adams.”
- A short pause harms no one. The Department would only have to wait a few more weeks to enforce the rule in a few more states. Without the pause, students and schools would suffer harm that couldn’t be undone.
Read the full brief below:
