Mississippi
Mississippi among states challenging Biden Administration's broadened Title IX rule
President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
- Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho sue the U.S. Department of Education over new rule that expands Title IX to include “sexual orientation, gender identity.”
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) has joined the attorneys general from Louisiana, Montana, and Idaho in challenging the Biden Administration’s new Title IX final rule that broadens the federal law to prohibit discrimination based on “sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”
“Title IX has been a game-changer for generations of women,” said Attorney General Fitch. “For more than fifty years, it has given girls an opportunity to compete on a level playing field and offered them a fair chance to excel. The Biden Administration’s pursuit of an extremist political agenda here will destroy these important gains.”
Fitch says under this new rule, “safe and private spaces for women to engage in healing, fellowship, and support will be torn away” from girls and women. She said the Biden Administration’s legal theories “are novel, at best, and they cut legal corners to push them through, and we intend to defeat this rule in the courts.”
As previously reported, the original intent of the 1972 law was to give women an equal playing field in educational attainment, particularly at public schools and institutions of higher learning that receive federal financial aid. However, presidential administrations supportive of the LGBTQ movement have used Title IX to expand protections and access for people who identify as lesbian, gay or transgender.
READ MORE: Biden Administration broadens Title IX to include sexual orientation, gender identity
The new Biden Administration rule handed down by the U.S. Department of Education also places additional requirements on schools to communicate their nondiscrimination policies and procedures to all students, employees, and other participants in their education programs, among other mandates.
Failure to comply with the new rule could result in the loss of federal funding and legal action taken by the federal government against local schools.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill (R) is leading the challenge for the states in the case titled Louisiana v. The U.S. Department of Education. In a release announcing the filing, Murrill’s office called the expansion of Title IX rules “illegal,” saying it would apply burdensome requirements on nearly every school, college, and university in Louisiana and across the nation.
“This would deprive women and girls of the equal educational opportunities they struggled for decades to secure, and cost states billions of dollars to implement,” the Louisiana AG’s office states, adding, “The rules rewrite Title IX, requiring all schools, colleges, and universities that receive federal assistance across the country to disregard the concept of biological ‘sex.’”
The attorneys general claim in the lawsuit that the new Title IX rule “cannot help but sound the death knell for female sports.” They say their challenge is intended to “save Title IX.”
Read the full lawsuit below.
Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers face pressure to counter looming federal cuts to health care after punting this session
Wicker: Mississippi powered Artemis II
Published 4:00 pm Monday, April 20, 2026
For nine days this month, space travel captivated the world. Families gathered around their screens as four astronauts strapped into the Integrity spacecraft docked at the Kennedy Space Center. As the launch countdown ended, four Mississippi-tested RS-45 engines ignited, and the ground shook. Seven seconds later, the Integrity had liftoff. For six intense minutes, the RS-45 engines rocketed the crew into high Earth orbit, sending them on their historic lunar flyby mission.
Mississippi should take a bow. The four RS-45 engines were tested at our very own Stennis Space Center, where Mississippians have been ensuring the quality of rocket engines since the Apollo program. For eight years, engineers, safety managers, and logistics specialists from the state have tested the engines that powered the Integrity and will power future Artemis launches. Their work paid off, and the launch was a marvel of engineering. NASA leadership made special mention of the rocket engine burn, calling it “flawless.”
One Mississippian in particular helped make the mission a success. Hernando native Matthew Ramsey handled a great deal of responsibility as the mission manager for Artemis II. The Mississippi State University graduate helped set the focus for the mission and equip the astronauts and staff for the job. Matthew also served as the deputy of the Mission Management Team, the group of NASA staff that comes together just days before a launch. The team assumes the risks of the mission ahead, and they make tough calls during flight if challenges arise.
As the Artemis II journey progressed, the world could not stop watching. Our social media feeds were full of photos and videos beamed down from the heavens. They captured humorous situations, such as the astronauts adjusting to life without gravity or testing their plumbing skills.
We also witnessed moments of majesty. On the fifth day, the Integrity began using the Moon’s gravity to slingshot our astronauts back home. That trajectory led the crew around the Moon, farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone. As the explorers looked upon outer space, they captured stunning images. Among the most remarkable is Earthset, in which Commander Reid Wiseman photographed Earth as it appeared to fall below the horizon of the moon.
When their spacecraft returned to Earth’s atmosphere, the crew was traveling nearly 35 times faster than the speed of sound. Ten minutes later, a series of parachutes began opening. Eventually, the spacecraft’s speed fell to 20 miles per hour, and the crew splashed down into the Pacific Ocean.
Mississippi was once again there to assist. The astronauts were greeted by the USS John P. Murtha, a U.S. military vessel built in the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula. The ship’s amphibious design was suited to welcome the space travelers home—equipped with a helicopter pad, medical facilities, and the communications system needed to locate and recover the astronauts safely. Crucially, the USS Murtha was built with a well deck, a sea-based garage that stored the Integrity on the journey to shore.
Artemis II was a resounding success, paving the way for planned future flights. When the Artemis program returns humans to the moon, Mississippi will be there every step of the way.
-
Sports7 minutes agoSun Valley Poly High’s Fabian Bravo shows flashes of Koufax dominance
-
World19 minutes agoMoldovan oligarch sentenced to 19 years in prison over $1bn fraud
-
New York2 hours agoTrump’s Immigration Crackdown Pervades Long Island Suburbs
-
Detroit, MI3 hours agoChris Simms projects Detroit Lions first-round NFL draft pick
-
San Francisco, CA3 hours agoSan Francisco sets $3.4B price tag for public takeover of PG&E
-
Dallas, TX3 hours agoGame Day Guide: Stars at Wild | Dallas Stars
-
Miami, FL3 hours agoMay a steadying presence as Cards hold off Marlins in Miami
-
Boston, MA3 hours agoTyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe flex in Boston: Takeaways from Celtics-76ers Game 2