SCOTUS Takes Title IX Employee Case

The Supreme Court agreed to hear whether public university employees can sue for sex discrimination under Title IX — a question that's split the lower courts and drawn the Trump administration into the middle.

State of play: The case, Crowther v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, started with two women — an art professor and a women's basketball coach at Georgia public universities — who both claimed they were victims of sex discrimination on the job.

The 11th Circuit threw out their claims. Chief Judge William Pryor read Title IX's text closely and found nothing in it that gives employees a private right to sue. The law bars sex discrimination against persons in "any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance" — but Pryor concluded that language protects students and program participants, not the people doing the teaching and coaching.

The legal question: Title IX has long been understood as a student-protection statute. Whether it extends a private right of action to employees is something the circuit courts have answered differently, which is exactly why the Supreme Court stepped in.

"[N]othing about that language indicates congressional intent to provide a private right of action to employees of educational institutions." — Chief Judge William Pryor, 11th Circuit

Between the lines: The Trump administration's posture here is telling. Solicitor General D. John Sauer sided with the university — agreeing the 11th Circuit got it right — but still urged the Court to take the case because of the circuit split. The administration isn't defending employee claims; it's asking SCOTUS to settle the law in a way that likely closes the door on them nationwide.

What else happened Monday: The Court sent two Voting Rights Act cases back to lower courts for reconsideration after its April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais substantially narrowed Section 2's reach. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from both remands. The Court also declined to hear challenges to Medicare drug price negotiations and turned down a lawsuit seeking to hold X (formerly Twitter) liable for child pornography remaining on its platform.

What to watch: Oral arguments in Crowther are expected this fall. The outcome will determine whether tens of thousands of employees at federally funded schools — from professors to coaches to staff — retain a federal discrimination remedy, or get sent to state courts and Title VII instead.