Documents released by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel show that officials inside former President Joe Biden's Department of Education continued pursuing gender identity and sexual orientation cases under Title IX in states where a federal court had barred such enforcement — a finding the department itself ultimately confirmed after a supplemental investigation. The OSC's June 9 letter to the White House concluded that the department's Office for Civil Rights had failed to comply with a federal injunction, substantiating allegations first raised by a whistleblower inside the agency.
The Whistleblower Complaint and OSC Findings
The whistleblower, identified as a chief attorney in OCR's Kansas City office, alleged that department leadership directed regional offices to continue handling gender identity, transgender status, and sexual orientation claims in the roughly 20 states covered by the court's injunction. The OSC concluded that OCR leadership had created, in the watchdog's words, a path for carrying out its preferred policies in defiance of that order.
Central to the finding is an email sent by Catherine Lhamon, then the department's Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, on September 26, 2022. In it, Lhamon acknowledged the court had blocked three guidance documents but told staff that OCR would continue its statutory responsibilities and should not rely on the blocked documents when interpreting Title IX. Investigators later determined that framing did not constitute genuine compliance with the injunction.
The Court Order and Its Origins
The injunction itself grew out of a coalition of states challenging three guidance documents issued in June 2021, following President Biden's signing of Executive Order 13988 on gender identity and sexual orientation discrimination. In July 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee issued a preliminary injunction blocking the department from implementing those documents against the plaintiff states. The Sixth Circuit affirmed that injunction in June 2024.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which joined the Tennessee case on behalf of Arkansas female athlete Amelia Ford and the Association of Christian Schools International, argued that the guidance would require schools to permit males who identify as female to compete on female athletic teams and use female-designated facilities.
Department Reversal and Next Steps
The Department of Education initially denied wrongdoing in a December 2024 report, arguing that OCR had grounded its investigations in Title IX statute and case law rather than the blocked documents. After a supplemental investigation, the department reversed that position, acknowledging significant shortcomings in its initial review, including a failure to assess available evidence and conduct relevant interviews.
The OSC has closed its file, but its June 9 letter called for further accountability inside the department and before Congress. Jonathan Scruggs, ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy, said the released records show officials sought a workaround by separating the court-blocked documents from the underlying policies those documents expressed. Scruggs called for congressional or agency oversight to prevent similar conduct going forward.