Trump Admin Announces It Will Enforce 2020 Title IX Rules, Not Biden’s

The Department of Education on Friday announced that it would enforce the 2020 Title IX rules implemented during the first Trump administration.

Upon entering office, former President Joe Biden attempted to alter those rules to remove due process protections from students and to change the definition of sex to allow boys in girls’ sports and bathrooms. The Trump administration’s announcement means the Biden rules are null and void.

“The Biden Administration’s failed attempt to rewrite Title IX was an unlawful abuse of regulatory power and an egregious slight to women and girls,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in the announcement. “Under the Trump Administration, the Education Department will champion equal opportunity for all Americans, including women and girls, by protecting their right to safe and separate facilities and activities in schools, colleges, and universities.”

The administration sent out a “Dear Colleague Letter” announcing the move, noting that the Education Department would “enforce Title IX under the provisions of the 2020 Title IX Rule, rather than the recently invalidated 2024 Title IX Rule.”

In December, the Biden administration officially withdrew its proposed Title IX rule that would have allowed biological males to participate in women’s sports as long as the men “identify” as women, The Daily Wire previously reported. In January, a federal court struck down the Title IX rewrite to ensure no states followed Biden’s regulations, which also gutted due process protections for students accused of crimes on campus.

Tyler Coward, lead counsel for government affairs at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), applauded the due-process component of the Trump administration’s previous rules in a statement to The Daily Wire.

“The return to the 2020 rules ensures that all students — whether they are the accused or the accuser — will receive fair treatment and important procedural safeguards,” Coward said. “That includes the right of both parties to have lawyers present during hearings, the right for both attorneys to cross-examine the other party and witnesses, and the right to receive all of the evidence in the institution’s possession. Colleges are also required to adopt a speech-protective definition of sexual harassment that enables schools to punish genuine harassment instead of merely unpopular speech.”

“Restoring the Trump administration’s rules means that students can once again feel secure that their rights to due process and free speech will be respected while ensuring administrators have the tools they need to punish those who engage in sexual misconduct and harassment,” Coward added.