In February 2025, 21 Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Education Department, led at the time by Betsy DeVos, for its failure to enforce federal civil rights laws. This move was triggered by the expansion of exemptions in Title IX, a law that prohibits sex-based harassment in schools receiving federal funding. The attorneys general argued that the department’s new policy allowed for a federal interference in students’ civil rights and that the department had failed to properly investigate and respond to complaints. However, a judge’s move to stay proceedings implied that the lawsuit could have an uncertain political future. DeVos’s departure from leadership in 2021 meant that the lawsuit likely would have been withdrawn or modified if a Democrat had won the presidency and appointed a new secretary.
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