The U.S. Supreme Court has just denied the Biden-Harris administration's request to enforce its new Title IX rule. 

Fox News reports that the justices handed down their decision in the case on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024.

The ruling was 5-4. The dissenters included the court's liberal contingent as well as - to the surprise of many - Justice Neil Gorsuch.

We'll start off with the background of the case.

Here's what's going on:

For those unfamiliar with Title IX, Thomson Reuters explains:

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in all education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. However, it is perhaps best known for mandating gender equality in college sports.

The Biden-Harris administration has been attempting to make some changes to Title IX.

CNN reports:

The sweeping rule issued in April clarified that Title IX’s ban on “sex” discrimination in schools covers discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and “pregnancy or related conditions.” Other provisions address protections for pregnant and postpartum students, including access to lactation spaces and prohibitions on retaliation.

The purpose of the rule change, according to CNN, is "to protect LGBTQ+ and pregnant students from discrimination."

The rule change, however, has been legally challenged, and, it has been blocked by federal judges in about 10 states.

The latest

The Biden-Harris administration sought the help of the U.S. Supreme Court to remove the block in these 10 states. But, the Supreme Court refused to grant this request.

The court wrote:

On this limited record and in its emergency applications, the Government has not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the lower courts’ interim conclusions that the three provisions found likely to be unlawful are intertwined with and affect other provisions of the rule

The court's liberal contingent and Justice Gorsuch, however, disagreed with this order. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in her dissent - with which Gorsuch, at least in part, agreed - wrote:

By blocking the Government from enforcing scores of regulations that respondents never challenged and that bear no apparent relationship to respondents’ alleged injuries, the lower courts went beyond their authority to remedy the discrete harms alleged here.

The bottom line, though, is that the Biden-Harris administration's Title IX rule change will remain blocked in 10 states. These states include Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Many are celebrating this ruling as a big win for women, among others.