K–12 schools, colleges, and universities have become an intense battleground in political and courtroom conflicts over the well-being of America’s kids and what values we should instill in the next generation. Facing intensely debated issues including critical race theory in the classroom, women’s and girls’ privacy, and parental rights, many in the conservative movement, traditionally wary of involving courts and administrative agencies in the nation’s culture wars, have thrown their support behind a more muscular approach: employing legal and, when available, federal regulatory strategies to champion traditional values in schools. This agenda, which may be deemed a new civil rights movement in education, is characterized by a commitment to unfettered debate in higher education; a colorblind approach to race; and parental control over the education of their children. It also calls for a return to the promise of Title IX in prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, with an understanding that sex, for purposes of Title IX, is binary and biological, male and female, and with the further understanding that this binary, biological classification allows for, even requires, sex-separated spaces in athletics, housing, and intimate facilities.

At our third Education Law & Policy Conference, on Wednesday, September 11, the Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies and the Federalist Society will devote a day to discussing the aims and contours of this new civil rights movement with many of the best and brightest legal and policy minds in the country. Is this movement new, or is it simply a continuation of previous efforts to instill equality and recognize the rights of parents in America’s schools? Is it a cohesive “movement” on the right, or is it an organizational alliance of convenience in pursuit of distinct aims within the educational context? What are the ongoing and upcoming legal battles this movement will attempt to tackle, and what do these conflicts mean for students, parents, and teachers across the country?

Join our live broadcast of the conference tomorrow from 9:00am to 5:00pm for a vigorous discussion and debate of these and other questions. The conference will feature:

  • A keynote luncheon speech by Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia.
  • An armchair conversation on “The State of Civil Rights on Campus,” featuring the Manhattan Institute’s Director of Constitutional Studies Ilya Shapiro and Senior Editor at National Review Charles C.W. Cooke discussing the seeming trend toward illiberalism and intolerance in education and what it means for the future of the legal profession and the molding of the country’s future leaders.
  • A plenary session on “Title IX: Gender Identity and So Much More” that will examine the Biden Education Department’s regulatory rule on Title IX, including policies on campus due process requirements, the expansion of the reach of federal enforcement to discrimination on the basis of “gender identity,” and the future of the rule in light of the many ongoing legal challenges it faces.
  • A plenary session on “Race and Education After Students for Fair Admissions” that will explore what that seminal Supreme Court case means for the use of race in college and K–12 admissions and other policies, as well as what to watch for in upcoming cases involving race-conscious policies in education.
  • A plenary session entitled “A Discussion on the Right: Parental Rights in Education,” featuring attorneys active in parental rights litigation discussing how they have aided parents in pushing back against controversial school policies regarding race and sex in the courts and in state legislatures, as well as the tension and pitfalls of bringing parental rights cases.

We hope you will join us for the full event, beginning at 9:00 am and ending at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, September 11. Please visit the Federalist Society’s website for the full conference schedule, a list of the distinguished speakers participating on each panel, and the live YouTube broadcasts of the proceedings.

Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public policy matters. Any expressions of opinion are those of the author. We welcome responses to the views presented here. To join the debate, please email us at [email protected].