The U.S. Department of Education confirmed a whistleblower’s allegations that the agency violated a federal court order while handling Title IX cases tied to gender identity and sexual orientation, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

OSC told President Donald Trump and Congress this week that the department’s supplemental investigation backed the claims from Timothy Mattson, a whistleblower in the department’s Office for Civil Rights.

Mattson said the department failed to follow a 2022 federal injunction that blocked the agency from using Biden administration Title IX guidance in states covered by the order.

The guidance said Title IX’s ban on sex discrimination included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“As summarized below, the agency fully substantiated the allegations,” OSC Chief Counsel Charles Baldis wrote in a June 9 letter to the president.

The issue dates back to Jan. 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 13988. The order told federal agencies to combat discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

In June 2021, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights issued three guidance documents.

Twenty states sued the department. On July 15, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee blocked the department from using those documents against the states that sued. The Sixth Circuit upheld the injunction in 2024.

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