Conservative states challenge federal rule on treatment of transgender students

Several Republican state attorneys general are challenging a federal regulation that seeks to protect the rights of transgender students in the nation's schools by banning blanket policies that bar transgender students from school bathrooms aligning with their gender, among other provisions.

The officials argue the new policies would hurt women and girls, trample free speech rights and create burdens for the states, which are among those with laws adopted in recent years that conflict with the new regulations.

“This is federal government overreach, but it’s of a degree and dimension like no other,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a news conference Monday.

One lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Monroe, Louisiana on Monday, the same day the Education Department regulations on how to enforce Title IX were officially finalized. The top state government lawyers for Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana want the court to delay the date they take effect, which is scheduled for Aug. 1.

Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, along with four advocacy organizations filed a suit in federal court in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Monday, and Texas filed a similar suit in federal court in Amarillo.

The attorney general's office in Indiana said that state was joining a lawsuit to be filed in Tennessee on Tuesday, but Tennessee's attorney general's office did not confirm their plans.

Top government officials from South Dakota said in a news release that the state “looks forward to joining efforts to enjoin this Rule.”

Filing in multiple federal courts gives the states a better chance that one of them will put the rule on hold nationally.

“The Final Rule drives a dagger through the heart of Title IX's