On January 9, 2025, a federal district court in Kentucky ruled that the 2024 Title IX Regulations “are invalid and must be set aside.” Despite some ambiguity in the text of the decision, we concluded that the ruling likely vacated the 2024 Title IX Regulations for schools nationwide—not just for schools in the plaintiff states.
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance that confirms our analysis. In the guidance, entitled Online or Digital Sexual Harassment under the 2020 Title IX Regulations: A Resource for Students, Families, and Educators, OCR notes that the Kentucky decision vacated the 2024 Title IX Regulations nationwide. Specifically, in footnote 2 on the last page of the document, OCR states: “On January 9, 2025, a federal district court issued a decision vacating the 2024 Final Rule. Consistent with the court’s order, the 2024 Title IX regulations are not effective in any jurisdiction.” It is also notable that the title of the guidance itself references the 2020 Title IX regulations.
What This Means for Schools
Although we cannot predict what changes, if any, will be made to the 2020 Title IX Regulations in the future, what is clear now is that the 2024 Title IX Regulations are no longer in effect. Accordingly, schools are advised to discontinue use of policies and regulations that follow the 2024 Title IX Regulations and resume using those that were in place under the 2020 Title IX Regulations.
In the absence of additional guidance from OCR, unanswered questions remain. For example, it is possible that the 2020 Title IX Regulations may change, requiring yet another iteration of policy and regulation changes in schools across the country. There is also no guidance regarding the impact of the Court’s ruling on investigations that were opened or concluded during the period between August 1, 2024, and January 9, 2025. We recommend consulting with legal counsel to explore how these issues could affect your schools.
Conclusion
As you begin to transition back to the 2020 Title IX regulations, we invite clients to reach out with any questions regarding your policies, procedures, investigations, or other circumstances. We will continue to monitor this situation closely, and we will provide further guidance as it becomes available.
