In May 2024, in a somewhat underreported case, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton brought the 75th suit against the Biden-Harris Administration over its policies. This case focused on the new rules from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which AG Paxton characterized as changing federal law by changing its guidance.
The guidance change had to do with how the EEOC defines “sex” under the Civil Rights Act. Whereas in the past, it meant that biological sex could not be a basis for “discrimination” in the workplace such as bathroom accommodations, dress code compliance for employees, pronoun usage in the workplace, and other matters having to do with “gender identity.” Predictably, the EEOC changed the rule to “gender identity,” sparking the Texas lawsuit.
Announcing the lawsuit in a press release in May, the office of Texas AG Paxton said, “Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and other officials in the Biden Administration to stop an unlawful attempt to redefine federal law through agency guidance. This lawsuit is Attorney General Paxton’s 75th legal action against the Biden Administration.”
Continuing, AG Paxton’s press release described the rule change issue. Beginning that part, it said, “On April 29, the EEOC issued guidance that would redefine the meaning of “sex” in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require employer accommodations for bathroom usage, dress code compliance, and pronoun usage in the workplace based on “gender identity” rather than biological sex.”
Next, it argued that the EEOC lacked the authority for this rule change, in part thanks to a prior lawsuit from Texas. It said, “However, doing so directly flouts a prior ruling Texas won stopping a substantially similar guidance issued by the EEOC in 2022. According to that ruling, the agency lacked any authority to mandate a reinterpretation of the law and the court vacated the guidance in its entirety.”
It then noted that the rule guidance is clearly unlawful, saying, “The court also issued a binding declaratory judgment between Texas and EEOC that Title VII did not require employer accommodations for bathroom usage, dress code compliance, and pronoun usage to be according to “gender identity” rather than biological sex —which the Biden Administration did not even appeal. The renewed attempt by the Biden Administration to remake Title VII through agency action contradicts the previous ruling and is clearly unlawful.”
Concluding its description of the case, AG Paxton’s office said, “Attorney General Paxton has asked the court to enforce its declaratory judgment, vacate the illegal guidance from April 29, and grant injunctive relief preventing the Biden Administration from issuing further guidance and other resources that are ‘contrary to law.’”
Commenting on the case, AG Paxton said, “Yet again the Biden Administration is trying to circumvent the democratic process by issuing sweeping mandates from the desks of bureaucrats that would fundamentally reshape American law. Texas will not stand by while Biden ignores court orders forbidding such actions and we will hold the federal government accountable at every turn.”
In the case itself, AG Paxton described the prior case history relating to the EEOC’s rule change, why the rule change to “gender identity” rather than biological sex is wrong, and what relief the court should grant. Concluding, Texas argued, “The Court should grant Texas’s motion and issue further necessary or proper declaratory, injunctive, and vacation relief.”
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