Tennessee is suing the U.S. Department of Education over a policy designed to protect transgender students. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti joined five other states Tuesday in seeking to block the new regulations before they take effect in August.
In the guidance, the DOE said that it’s clarifying the scope of Title IX to include protections for transgender people in the classroom.
The change raises funding concerns for Tennessee. State lawmakers have banned trans students from using the bathroom or playing on the sports team that aligns with their gender.
Skrmetti said that the new federal rules violate the First Amendment.
“The conditions at the time that the state agreed to take the money were very different than the conditions that the government seeks to impose. Now, that’s a constitutional violation,” Skrmetti said.
Tennessee has its own law on the books which would take funding from schools within the state that defy its ban on trans athletes.
The AG told reporters Tuesday that the legal challenge is likely to succeed, given past litigation.
“The Department of Education previously issued guidance, along the same line, seeking to promote the same understanding of Title IX,” Skrmetti said. “We won an injunction against that guidance, and now we’re litigating against the rule. We’re litigating hard on behalf of the people of Tennessee, and we expect we’re going to win.”
The attorneys general of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia have also signed onto the lawsuit.
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