When the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion several weeks ago upholding a public school district’s policy allowing transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity, it was just the latest...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 6, 2017, the Supreme Court remanded a highly anticipated transgender rights case back to the Court of Appeals after the Trump Administration withdrew Obama era guidance regarding the rights of...more
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education have withdrawn existing guidance on transgender students and issued a new Dear Colleague Letter calling into question whether Title IX requires that schools permit students to use...more
Rescission of Previous Administration’s Guidance Relating to Transgender Students - On February 22, 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education released a Dear Colleague Letter rescinding the...more
On February 22, 2017, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education (DOE) withdrew their May 13, 2016 “Dear Colleague” letter that provided guidance on steps to protect transgender students under Title IX of the...more
On February 22, 2017, President Donald Trump’s administration issued a two-page "Dear Colleague" letter that formally rescinded the Obama administration’s interpretation of transgender student rights as an extension of Title...more
On February 22, 2017, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter withdrawing the statements of policy and guidance issued by the Department of Education on January 7, 2015 and...more
In May 2016, the Obama Administration’s U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a Dear Colleague letter directing schools to recognize and treat...more
On February 22, 2017, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice ("Departments") withdrew statements of policy and guidance on transgender students and their use of school restrooms and locker rooms that were a...more
In the latest chapter in the saga of evolving legal rights and protections for transgender students, on Feb. 22, the Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint “Dear Colleague Letter” that rescinded their prior...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education jointly issued a “Dear Colleague” letter yesterday withdrawing and rescinding the Obama Administration’s prior guidance letters which instructed schools that...more
On February 22, 2017, one day before briefs were submitted to the Supreme Court in a case involving a transgender student in Pennsylvania, the Trump Administration, through the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department...more
On February 22, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice (“ED” and “DOJ,” respectively, and collectively, the “Departments”) issued a two-page Dear Colleague Letter to “withdraw and rescind” policy and guidance reflected...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral argument in one of the high-profile challenges to the legality of the Dear Colleague Letter (“DCL”) jointly issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education on May 13,...more
As we have previously written, the United States Departments of Education and Justice issued joint guidance for school districts regarding transgender students via a May 13, 2016 “Dear Colleague Letter.” This guidance was...more
On August 21, 2016, in a case entitled State of Texas et al. v. United States of America et al ., Judge Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary...more
A federal judge in Texas has dealt a serious blow to the Obama administration’s transgender school bathroom directive, barring the federal order which required schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms, locker...more
On May 13, 2016, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) describing reasonable steps to protect transgender students under Title IX of the Educational Amendments of...more
On May 13, 2016, with much fanfare, the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education jointly issued a “Dear Colleague Letter” [“DCL”] in order to provide guidance for school districts with...more
Two divisions of the federal government have weighed in on the recent legal controversies surrounding accommodations for transgender students. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S....more
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint Dear Colleague Letter on May 13, 2016, clarifying that Title IX prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status. The guidance states...more
Amidst a recently intensified national debate regarding support for transgender students in schools, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education (DOE) today issued new guidance setting out guidelines for...more