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A federal court on Thursday blocked President Joe Biden’s proposed changes to Title IX, halting his administration’s efforts to expand the definition of sex to include gender identity nationwide.

The Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX, first introduced in a January 2021 executive order, aimed to allow biological males to participate in women’s sports and access women-only spaces. The proposed rule sparked significant backlash, with critics arguing it undermined the original intent of the landmark law, which protects against sex-based discrimination in education.

President Joe Biden pauses during a photo opportunity with Medal of Valor recipients on Jan. 3, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Chief Judge Danny C. Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, appointed by former President George W. Bush, criticized the administration’s attempt to reinterpret Title IX.

“It is abundantly clear that discrimination on the basis of sex means discrimination on the basis of being a male or female,” Reeves wrote. “Expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head.”

The ruling comes after U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty issued a preliminary injunction in a related case in June 2024. Doughty, based in Louisiana, argued that the Biden administration’s changes violated the separation of powers and were inconsistent with Title IX’s original intent. He said the law “was written and intended to protect biological women from discrimination.”

Doughty also rejected the administration’s reliance on the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, which expanded sex discrimination protections to include transgender identity in employment law under Title VII. He noted that Bostock does not extend to Title IX, and federal courts remain divided on whether it applies to education law.

Republican-led states and legal organizations welcomed the rulings.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called the decision a “massive win,” and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen praised the outcome as a safeguard for women’s rights. “This decision will keep young women and girls protected from dangerous situations, just as Title IX has done for decades,” Knudsen said.

Montana, Louisiana, Idaho, and Mississippi joined the challenge to Biden’s Title IX rules, alongside support from organizations such as the Defense of Freedom Institute.

In December 2024, Biden administration officials said they would no longer pursue the Title IX overhaul due to legal challenges preventing its implementation before Biden leaves office.

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This ruling marks a significant victory for the incoming Trump administration, which has vowed to rewrite the rule and undo the changes that the Biden administration applied to Title IX.

Legal experts involved in litigation against the Title IX changes previously told the Washington Examiner that a nationwide injunction would allow the incoming administration’s Education Department to restore the rules to their state under former Secretary Betsy DeVos during the first Trump administration.