The highly anticipated list of schools attended by children of members of Moms for Liberty, one of several plaintiffs that filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the U.S. Department of Education's new Title IX regulations, was released on July 26, 2024. It includes many Pennsylvania schools.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas issued an injunction on July 2, 2024, preventing the Department of Education from enforcing its new Title IX regulations against the plaintiffs in the case, which included Moms for Liberty, the Young America's Foundation and Female Athletes United, and their members. In the court’s order, the three organizations were directed to identify the schools that their members or members’ children attend.

On July 15, 2024, an initial list was released that included the schools attended by the members of the Young America’s Foundation, Female Athletes United, and only the schools of the four individual children of Moms for Liberty members who were plaintiffs in the case. Moms for Liberty then asked to submit a list of counties in which their members reside rather than schools. The court rejected that request and gave the group until July 26, 2024 to submit its list of schools, which was filed on Friday.

The names of Pennsylvania schools included on the lists filed on July 15 and July 26 can be accessed at this link. While these lists reflect the current schools impacted by the injunction, it is important to note the court has ruled that prospective members of the groups are also included in the injunction. That means the plaintiffs have the ability to supplement the list moving forward.

Key Takeaway: The injunction applies to schools, not entire school districts. This creates a myriad of legal issues to work through in determining how districts will move forward if schools in their district are named on the list.

The Department of Education has filed an appeal and a motion to stay parts of the preliminary injunction and we await a ruling on the appeal. However, there is currently no stay in place. Given this injunction and a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling that federal courts can no longer defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute but must exercise independent judgment when reviewing regulations — like the 2024 Title IX regs — it is possible that the 2024 Title IX regs will eventually be enjoined throughout the country or at your school district. Stay tuned!

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