Trump Administration Formally Rescinds Biden Title IX Rule

The Education Department said Monday that it was formally rescinding the Title IX regulations that the Biden administration put in place but that never took effect nationwide.

A federal judge vacated Biden’s 2024 rule in January 2025, effectively reverting the regulations governing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to those finalized in 2020, during the first Trump administration. Monday’s action formally reinstates the 2020 rule, which ED said will provide “clear guidance for parents, students, and educational institutions on the legal requirements of Title IX,” the federal law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex in educational settings. The rules outline in part how colleges must respond to reports of sexual harassment and discrimination, among other provisions.

The department said it made four minor changes to the 2020 rule to comply with other court orders and policy changes. “This action reflects no essential legal or policy determination by the Department, other than the fact that the 2024 Rule is not in force,” officials wrote in the Federal Register notice.

The Biden rule clarified protections for transgender students, saying that Title IX bars discrimination based on gender identity. The changes faced much criticism and were the target of lawsuits. Since Trump returned to office, his administration has targeted schools and colleges that allow trans students to compete on the team or use bathroom facilities that align with their gender identity, arguing that those policies put cisgender women and girls at risk.

While Monday’s notice is largely a formality, other potential changes to Title IX loom. The administration has said it plans to amend the regulations to align the rule with President Trump’s executive orders on gender identity. The department’s regulatory agenda says the changes will include “clarifying that implementation of Title IX is to be based on sex, which shall refer exclusively to an individual’s immutable biological classification as either male or female.”

Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the Nation Women’s Law Center, said in a statement that McMahon and the administration are “weaponizing Title IX to attack trans students” and ignoring what survivors of sexual violence need. Gender justice and survivor advocacy groups have said the 2020 rule made it more difficult for victims to report sexual harassment and created other barriers.

“While the administration is unlawfully eroding protections for trans students under the guise of ‘protecting women and girls,’ they are systematically weakening the very laws that keep students safe and schools accountable,” she added.