A federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, ruled in favor of Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a lawsuit over Biden administration-era guidelines issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding bathroom and pronoun policies.
Paxton filed the lawsuit in August over the EEOC's April 2024 policy that required employers to allow men into women-only spaces, including restrooms and locker rooms, and forced employees to use pronouns that contradict a person's biological sex.
In a 34-page ruling issued May 15, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Donald Trump appointee, said the EEOC exceeded its statutory authority and its guidance was "inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition" of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and "recent Supreme Court precedent" and vacated it.
"The Biden Administration unlawfully tried to twist federal law into a tool for advancing radical gender ideology by attempting to force employers to adopt 'transgender' policies or risk being sued," Paxton said in a statement posted on his X account. "The federal government has no right to force Texans to play along with delusions or ignore biological reality in our workplaces. This is a great victory for common sense and the rule of law."
Kacsmaryk also rejected the EEOC's arguments, adding the agency misread the Supreme Court's ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, in which the high court held in a 6-3 decision in 2020 that Title VII protects employees against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Kacsmaryk also cited "no binding authority for [the EEOC's] 'metastasized' definition of 'sex,'" and that it contravened Title VII by defining discriminatory harassment to include transgender bathroom, pronoun, and dress preferences.
He also said if Congress wanted to redefine "sex" in Title VII to include "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" it would have.
"But it did not," he wrote. "Congress has the power to amend statutes to add accommodations, EEOC does not. Yet that's exactly what the enforcement guidance does."
In an Inauguration Day executive order, President Donald Trump directed the EEOC to rescind portions of the guidance that conflicted with the executive order. However, any modification or rescission must be approved by a majority vote of the commission, and as of Jan. 27, the EEOC lacks a quorum, the agency said in a news release. Acting Chair Andrea Lucas, who voted against the new guidelines, remains opposed to them.