Cases & Developments

Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. Plaintiffs, a coalition of twelve states, sued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several subagencies alleging that HHS’s adoption of new grant funding conditions, requiring compliance with the Administration’s interpretation of Title IX as set forth in Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).  In particular, the funding conditions require recipients to certify they have adopted the executive order’s definition of sex and gender, recognizing only “male” and “female” based on “biology at conception.” Plaintiffs allege that HHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously by reversing longstanding interpretations of Title IX without reasoned explanation and by failing to consider reliance interests, scientific evidence, and the existence of transgender individuals. Plaintiffs further allege that HHS unlawfully adopted a legislative rule without notice and comment, exceeded its statutory authority by attempting to graft an executive order onto Title IX, and violated the Spending Clause and separation of powers by imposing vague, retroactive, and coercive funding conditions not authorized by Congress. Plaintiffs contend that the challenged conditions expose them to immediate and irreparable harm by threatening the loss of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal health, education, and research funding by subjecting them to heightened risk of enforcement under the False Claims Act. Plaintiffs seek declaratory relief that the funding conditions are unlawful and unconstitutional, vacatur of the conditions across all HHS grant documents, and a permanent injunction barring defendants from implementing or enforcing the conditions.