Two Virginia school districts can continue challenging the US Department of Education’s findings that their policies allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and other facilities aligned with their gender identity violate federal law, a federal appeals court has ruled.
In a 2-1 decision, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that directed the school districts to pursue their cases in the US Court of Federal Claims rather than a federal district court in Virginia.
The dispute involves the school boards of Fairfax County and Arlington, which had separately challenged the federal government’s actions against their policies. The appeals court said the lawsuits sought more than monetary compensation, including court orders that could prevent the department from enforcing its decisions.
The Court of Federal Claims generally handles cases seeking financial damages from the federal government. However, the majority concluded that the Virginia school districts’ claims extended beyond the scope of that court’s jurisdiction.
Federal funding dispute at the centre
Both school districts had adopted policies permitting transgender students to use bathrooms, locker rooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity, in line with approaches followed by many public school systems across the United States.
The Department of Education subsequently determined that the policies violated Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in education programmes receiving government funding.
Following those findings, the department classified both districts as “high-risk” under its federal grant system. It also shifted them to a reimbursement-only payment arrangement until they changed their policies.
The school boards filed separate lawsuits seeking judicial declarations that their policies complied with Title IX and that the department had acted unlawfully.
However, a federal district judge in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that the disputes belonged before the Court of Federal Claims because they involved demands for monetary relief arising from agreements between the school districts and the federal government.
The appeals court has now reversed that decision, allowing the challenges to proceed in the Virginia federal court system.
Judges split over the proper forum
Circuit Judges Alison Rushing and Albert Diaz formed the majority in the ruling. Rushing was appointed by President Donald Trump, while Diaz was appointed by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Circuit Judge Julius Richardson, another Trump appointee, dissented. He argued that the cases should remain with the Court of Federal Claims, maintaining that the school boards’ demand for advance payments was the central issue in the litigation.
The appellate ruling addresses where the lawsuits may be heard, rather than whether the school districts’ policies actually comply with Title IX. The underlying dispute over the legality of those policies therefore remains unresolved.
Broader transgender policy battle continues
The cases come amid a wider effort by the Trump administration to narrow legal protections for transgender people across several areas of public life, including education.
Trump has maintained that the federal government recognises only two sexes, male and female, and has directed federal agencies to align their policies with that position.
The Education Department has also threatened to withhold funding from schools in at least three states over policies restricting the disclosure of students’ transgender status to their parents. In another dispute, the administration filed a lawsuit seeking to stop public schools in Kansas City, Kansas, from facilitating gender transitions for transgender students.
The Virginia litigation adds another front to the ongoing conflict between federal education authorities and school districts over transgender students’ rights, the interpretation of sex discrimination law and the conditions attached to federal funding.
The cases are Fairfax County School Board v. McMahon and Arlington School Board v. McMahon, before the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
