On behalf of SurvJustice, Equal Rights Advocates, and Victim Rights Law Center, we, the National Center for Youth Law, and the National Women’s Law Center responded to the Government’s motion to dismiss our ongoing lawsuit challenging the Department of Education’s discriminatory rollback of Title IX protections for student survivors of sexual assault. In response, the groups reiterated the harms posed to the women and girls each plaintiff represents and highlighted the Administration’s attempt to downplay the insistence of a senior Education Department official that sexist propaganda inform the Administration’s reduction of survivor protections.

During the Administration’s review of Title IX policy, Candice Jackson, current Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Operations and Outreach in the Office for Civil Rights, required staff to read excerpts from a book that:

This followed her statement to the New York Times in July 2017 that “accusations — 90 percent of them — fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk,’ ‘we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right.”

In September 2017, the Trump Administration rescinded protections for student survivors of sexual violence, such as the requirement that schools conduct prompt investigations following reports of sexual misconduct. The Title IX policy the Administration issued in its place was motivated by outdated, sexist stereotypes and created discriminatory barriers that disadvantage survivors and discourage them from reporting their experiences. In response, SurvJustice, Equal Rights Advocates, and Victim Rights Law Center filed suit, alleging the Trump Administration’s extreme Title IX policy is unlawfully based on government officials’ discriminatory stereotypes about the credibility of women and girls who report sexual violence. Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on October 31 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The government filed a motion to dismiss on December 14, and the groups responded on January 11.