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Article
Title IX: Beyond Equal Protection
Harvard Journal of Law & Gender (2005)
  • David S Cohen
Abstract

The relationship between Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause is relevant to many areas of sex discrimination law. First and foremost, the issue has arisen when courts have attempted to determine the scope of Title IX's prohibition of sex discrimination. For instance, in Tara Brady's case, whether she could successfully bring a sex discrimination suit for monetary damages under Title IX, which says nothing on its face about pregnancy,(FN9) requires a determination of whether a plaintiff can bring a claim for monetary damages grounded in Title IX's regulation that prohibits pregnancy-based discrimination. After the Supreme Court's decision in Alexander v. Sandoval,(FN10) a Title VI case, which concluded that Title VI's regulations prohibiting disparate impact discrimination cannot form the basis of a private cause of action because Title VI itself prohibits only disparate treatment,(FN11) the Title IX pregnancy issue most likely will turn on whether Title IX itself, as opposed to its regulations, prohibits discrimination based on pregnancy.(FN12) If Title IX is coextensive with the Equal Protection Clause, which does not consider discrimination based on pregnancy as discrimination based on sex,"(FN13) then there is no private cause of action under Title IX for pregnancy discrimination.

Keywords
  • Title IX,
  • Title 9,
  • discrimination,
  • pregnant,
  • Pregnancy,
  • Sex discrimination,
  • Colleges and universities,
  • Equal protection
Disciplines
Publication Date
July, 2005
Citation Information
David S. Cohen, Title IX: Beyond Equal Protection, 28 Harv. J. L. & Gender 217 (2005).