The second Trump administration is poised to unwind President Joe Biden’s controversial Title IX regulations that expanded the definition of sex to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
With Linda McMahon tapped by President-elect Donald Trump for education secretary, a reversal could take shape through executive orders, regulatory reforms, and litigation strategies — all aimed at restoring what conservatives view as the original purpose of Title IX. Her role is expected to build on conservative priorities, including reinstating protections for women’s sports, safeguarding parental rights, and addressing broader issues of student safety and accountability.
Reversing Biden’s Title IX expansion
At the heart of Biden’s Title IX rules is an attempt to redefine sex in federal law, a move that has faced significant legal challenges. One such case, State of Kansas v. U.S. Department of Education, spearheaded by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach and Alliance Defending Freedom, highlights the stakes.
“The Biden-Harris administration’s radical redefinition of sex won’t just rewire our educational system,” said ADF senior counsel Jonathan Scruggs said in October. “It means girls will be forced to undress in locker rooms and share hotel rooms with boys on overnight school trips, teachers and students will have to refrain from speaking truthfully about biological sex, and girls will lose their right to fair competition in sports.”
The case, joined by the Southeastern Legal Foundation on behalf of advocacy groups like Moms for Liberty and Young America’s Foundation, has already secured a nationwide preliminary injunction against Biden’s Title IX rules. According to SLF Executive Director Kim Hermann, this lawsuit, and others in similar postures, could set the stage for the Trump administration’s actions if a nationwide injunction is secured in court.
“If the court vacates the rule, that’s going to set up the new administration to do a number of things,” Hermann told the Washington Examiner.
“We’ll likely see executive orders in the very first couple of days addressing the definition of sex across all agencies. If the rule is vacated nationwide, I think what we’ll see is the Education Department go in and issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to just readopt the Betsy DeVos rule,” Hermann added, noting that the administration “could take it further” with a secondary rule proposal later down the line.
The Role McMahon plays in reshaping Title IX
McMahon’s leadership in the Department of Education is expected to bring a business-minded approach to reversing Biden-era policies. Her tenure will likely include immediate action on Title IX through executive orders and regulatory reforms, as well as a broader strategy to address systemic issues in education.
Max Eden, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, has outlined key priorities McMahon should be focusing on, including tackling the alarming issue of student sexual abuse by school employees. He points to a 2004 Department of Education study that found that “more than 4.5 million students are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade,” according to a Dec. 3 report for AEI.
“A huge part of the problem,” Eden argues, “is that teachers’ unions and school districts have every incentive to not seriously pursue or appropriately record allegations of sexual abuse. McMahon could mandate that districts record all allegations and share them with state education agencies, creating a centralized database for background checks.”
Eden also proposed that McMahon could adopt a media strategy that bypasses legacy outlets like The New York Times, instead engaging directly with parents and educators through platforms like X and conservative media.
“Every word spoken to reach the substantively unreachable NYT subscribers or BlueSky cocoon dwellers is a word wasted,” Eden said.
Litigation and legislative strategies
Former U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman emphasized the role of litigation in reversing Biden’s policies.
“Resolving lawsuits stemming from the Biden administration’s willingness to push illegal policies will be a massive burden but also an opportunity to correct course,” Tolman told the Washington Examiner.
In the Kansas case, ADF and SLF argue that Biden’s Title IX rules violate the Constitution and Title IX’s original intent, which was to ensure fairness and privacy for women and girls. The preliminary injunction has already protected schools nationwide, covering organizations like Female Athletes United and individual plaintiffs like 13-year-old Katie Rowland, who avoided school restrooms after encountering a male student in the girls’ restroom.
Tolman also highlighted the importance of legislative action by Congress for cementing updated Title IX rules that are in accordance with the law’s original intent.
“Where there are concerns that a future Democratic administration might reverse these changes, it’s critical to go to the legislature and make durable changes to the law,” Tolman said.
Restoring Title IX’s core purpose
For McMahon and the Trump administration, reinstating DeVos-era Title IX regulations would be a foundational step, one that would be expedited if lawsuits spearheaded by conservative states obtain the nationwide injunction Hermann and her team are vying for.
If the court upholds the Biden-era Title IX policy, it could signal a longer road to reversing the policy will be marred with hurdles before the Trump administration can achieve its goal.
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Tolman said he thinks it is possible the process could take longer, noting it could take up to two years to fully undo the Biden administration’s rewriting of Title IX.
“Title IX has had its opponents on both the left and the right,” Tolman said. “But its core purpose was to ensure fair opportunities for women in sports. The incoming administration will likely spend considerable effort making sure the law remains true to that purpose.”
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
