Expanding rights? Schmexanding schmights. U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana blocked the Biden Administration’s planned reworking of Title IX rules yesterday in a ruling that covers Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana.
This all originated in an attempt by the White House to expand the protections of Title IX – a 53-year-old law that makes discrimination based on sex illegal – to LGBTQ+ students. That would of course include students who were born male but now identify as female.
That was too much for Doughty, a Donald Trump appointee.
“This case demonstrates the abuse of power by executive federal agencies in the rulemaking process,” the judge thundered in his opinion. “The separation of powers and system of checks and balances exist in this country for a reason.”
The new rules have faced a rocky rollout, with a judge in Texas ruling against them, attorney generals from 26 states challenging them in court and Republicans in Congress sponsoring legislation to stop them from going into effect.
Expect more marches like this from LGBTQ+ community in the near future. Because it’s pride month, of course. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
Fighting on: We covered the U.S. Supreme Court’s (slightly) surprising decision to uphold access to abortion pill drug mifepristone drug yesterday, but reactions continue to stream in from across the nation. In short, don’t expect the decades-long battle over access to reproductive health care to result in an armistice any time soon.
Wendy Heipt, an attorney for the advocacy organization Legal Voice, saw the high court’s rejection of the case based on standing as a positive move: “I’m not relaxing; it’s not over. But the fact that this one rogue judge in Texas opened the courthouse doors to people who had no right to be there was a real challenge to the way our judicial system works, so I am reassured that there are still rules.”
On the other hand, the group that brought the case sounds undeterred. The Alliance Defending Freedom noted that attorneys general from Idaho, Kansas and Missouri are continuing a version of the case at the district court level.
“The FDA recklessly leaves women and girls to take these high-risk drugs all alone in their homes or dorm rooms, without requiring the ongoing, in-person care of a doctor,” said ADF attorney Erin Hawley. (Fact check: The FDA has ruled mifepristone safe and effective.)
Supremes just can’t stop: Those nine D.C.-based bigwigs kept up their blistering late-session pace today, invalidating a 2017 rule that banned bump stocks on firearms. Everyone agrees that the accessory allows guns to fire more rapidly. At issue? Whether that accessory turns a semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun. The latter of those is usually illegal.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the 6-3 majority, which broke along partisan lines. The decision adds further hurdles to official efforts to reduce gun violence. Given recent decisions from the court, perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise.
