“[T]he phrase ‘receiving federal financial assistance’ means taking or accepting federal financial aid, help, or support,” the judges said. “Thus, the plain text of Title IX contemplates the transfer of funds from the federal government to an entity.”
The judges called the plaintiffs’ argument in the case “a novel concept.”
“Indeed, since Title IX’s inception over 50 years ago, it has never been applied to organizations based solely on their tax-exempt status,” they wrote, arguing that “tax exemption … is the withholding of a tax burden rather than the affirmative grant of funds.”
Greg Baylor, a senior counsel with the legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which filed an amicus brief in the case, told CNA that the ruling was “consistent with the text of Title IX statute and regulation and precedence.”
“For decades virtually everyone has understood that federal financial assistance consists of grants, contracts, property, and things of that nature,” Baylor said.
“No one has seriously argued that an organization’s possession of mere tax-exempt status counts as federal financial assistance.”
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