(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) joined Co-Chairs of the Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) Representatives Jackie Speier (CA-14), Lois Frankel (FL-21), Brenda L. Lawrence (MI-14), and Vice Chairs Representatives Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Deb Haaland (NM-01), along with 76 Members, in submitting an amicus brief in support of the National Women’s Law Center’s (NWLC) motion for a preliminary injunction to the Administration’s Final Title IX Rule. The amicus brief argues the Rule is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), in excess of the agency’s statutory authority, and contrary to Congress’s purposes in enacting Title IX and other victim-focused civil rights legislation. The Final Rule is slated to go into effect on August 14, even as schools and universities across the country grapple with the challenges of school closures, distance learning, and slashed budgets.

“As Members of Congress representing survivors and schools across the country we strongly support the National Women’s Law Center’s motion for a preliminary injunction to the Administration’s Title IX rule,” said DWC Leadership. “This rule is arbitrary and capricious because it fails to take into account – or willfully ignores – the immense cost and trauma borne by survivors and society as a whole due to the scourge of sexual violence. It mandates that schools turn a blind eye to complaints of sexual harassment and assault and retraumatizes survivors with cruel and needless policies such as live cross-examination that reinforce false stereotypes that they lie about assault. It flouts the purpose and intent of Title IX as a means to protect survivors’ civil rights and ensure students can learn free from discrimination. If this rule goes into effect on August 14, we will be turning back the clock on the progress we’ve made in women’s educational opportunities, with all of us paying the price.”

The NWLC, along with co-counsel Morrison & Foerster LLP and Diane Rosenfeld of Harvard Law School in her individual capacity, filed a lawsuit against Secretary DeVos on behalf of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC), Legal Voice, and Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE) on June 10, 2020, asserting that the new rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. On July 3, the NWLC filed an amended suit adding 7 new plaintiffs, all of whom experienced sexual harassment or assault as a student in elementary school, college, or graduate school and who will be harmed by the new rule. On July 24, the NWLC filed a motion for a preliminary injunction.

A copy of the brief is available here.

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