Trump Education Department finalizes revised Title IX rules

The Department of Education has run Title IX since 1972 under a that bars sex discrimination in any school or college receiving federal funds. In 2020 the first Trump administration issued rules that set detailed procedures for how campuses must investigate and decide sexual misconduct complaints. Those procedures required live hearings with cross-examination, allowed each side to bring an adviser, and gave the accused the chance to question witnesses.

A federal court struck down the Biden administration's 2024 replacement rules on transgender participation and other changes. On September 28 2026 the department under Secretary Linda McMahon published its final repeal of the 2024 rules and restored the 2020 framework with added language that guarantees the accused the right to call witnesses, to have a representative, and to appear at a hearing before any finding of responsibility.

The restored rules now govern how every covered school must handle sexual misconduct cases until another administration or court changes them again. The department says the text supplies a single standard that schools, students, and parents must follow.

Thinking ahead

The Trump Education Department wrapped up its rewrite of Title IX rules on Monday. The change scraps the Biden version that a court already struck down and puts the first-term Trump rules back in place with added rights for the accused in campus misconduct cases. Those rights now include calling witnesses, bringing a representative, and getting a live hearing. The final text heads to formal publication Tuesday. Schools will have to follow the new text once it takes effect unless another court blocks it or Congress passes a law that changes the underlying statute. The next clear shift would come from a fresh lawsuit that produces a nationwide injunction or from a change in administration after the next election. This setup looks likely to hold for at least the next two to three years barring new court action.

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