In a win for free speech and the rule of law, on February 10, 2025, the federal government boldly reversed course, and changed its position on whether President Biden’s regulations under Title IX should be litigated before an appellate court in Denver. Instead, the federal government received permission to pause its appeal in Moms for Liberty v. U.S. Department of Education, canceling the scheduled March 19, 2025, oral arguments before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is a major signal that the Trump Administration may not defend the controversial Title IX overhaul by the Biden-Harris Administration.
Why This Case Matters
Title IX is a federal civil rights statute that bans schools from discriminating based on sex. But the Biden-Harris Administration’s rewrite of Title IX distorted the meaning of “sex discrimination,” and would have forced schools to adopt policies that many states, parents, and free speech advocates have pointed out violate the First Amendment.
Under these changes, schools would have been required to enforce speech codes that compel the use of specific pronouns, restrict discussions on biological sex, and punish students and teachers for expressing views that do not align with the Biden Administration’s gender policies. In other words, the regulations attempted to dictate what students and educators could and couldn’t say—directly contradicting core free speech protections.
That’s why Kansas, Moms for Liberty, YAF, and others are working with Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) to challenge these regulations in court. Last Summer, we obtained a temporary halt to the regulations. The government appealed, but now with the case now on pause, it appears they are rightfully backing down.
What’s Next?
With the appeal on hold, this is a significant victory for free speech, ensuring that neither students nor teachers can be forced to conform to government-mandated speech policies. The case is now frozen until at least September 2025, when the court could decide to reschedule oral arguments—unless the government drops its appeal altogether.
