A federal court on Thursday invalidated the Biden administration’s ambitious overhaul of Title IX, handing the Democratic president a major defeat on transgender rights as he prepares to leave office.

U.S. District Chief Judge Danny Reeves granted summary judgment to a five-state coalition challenging the Department of Education’s regulatory change of adding “gender identity” to Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in education.

The judge found that the department exceeded its statutory authority, violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and acted capriciously in approving the sweeping rewrite.

“As this Court and others have explained, expanding the meaning of ‘on the basis of sex’ to include ‘gender identity’ turns Title IX on its head,” said Judge Reeves, who was appointed to the U.S. District Court for eastern Kentucky by President George W. Bush in 2001.

The ruling applies not just to the five states in the coalition — Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana and West Virginia — but nationwide.

“The district court ruling applies nationwide and to every part of the Biden Title IX rule, meaning the rule is completely invalidated, and the U.S. Department of Education is unable to enforce it — anywhere,” said the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents two intervenors in the case.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti declared that “President Biden’s radical Title IX rewrite is dead and common sense is ALIVE!”

“The court’s order is [a] resounding victory for the protection of girls’ privacy in locker rooms and showers, and for the freedom to speak biologically-accurate pronouns,” Mr. Skrmetti posted on X.

The Title IX redo went into effect in August, but 26 states obtained temporary injunctions blocking the measure from taking effect in their jurisdictions pending the outcome of the litigation.

Judge Reeves’ decision, the first to rule on the merits of the case, was hailed by the Alliance Defending Freedom as a “colossal win for women and girls across the country.”

“The Biden administration’s radical attempt to redefine sex not only tossed fairness, safety, and privacy for female students out the window, it also threatened free speech and parental rights,” said Kristen Waggoner, ADF’s president and CEO. “With this ruling, the federal court in Kentucky rejected the entire Biden rule and the administration’s illegal actions.”

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.