The Pendulum Swings Back: 2020 Title IX Regulations Restored

After more than a year of litigation, executive action, and regulatory uncertainty, the Department of Education has formally closed the book on the Biden administration’s 2024 Title IX regulations. On September 29, 2026, the Department published an immediately effective final rule repealing the 2024 regulations and restoring the regulatory text largely to its pre-2024 form: the 2020 Title IX regulations.

Earlier Guidance Now Codified 

Eight federal courts preliminarily enjoined the 2024 rule in 26 states, and two courts later vacated it nationwide. In January 2025, the Department advised regulated entities that the 2020 regulations again controlled and recommended prompt compliance measures.

The recodified rule now aligns the published regulations with that guidance, with the Department emphasizing that the rule “effects no change of current substantive law” and imposes no new obligations. Indeed, the recodified regulations largely track the 2020 text, with four targeted departures:

• Cross-examination exclusion. The rule omits the provision that barred decision-makers from relying on statements by parties or witnesses who did not submit to cross-examination at a live hearing. Because that sentence was separately vacated in Victim Rights Law Center v. Cardona (D. Mass. 2021), the Department omitted it rather than attempting a partial rewrite.
• Appendix A. Appendix A is not reinstated because a July 2026 rulemaking had already removed it (91 Fed. Reg. 46285).
• Athletics adjustment period. The rule does not reinstate the obsolete compliance adjustment period in § 106.41(d), avoiding any suggestion that recipients have additional time to satisfy Title IX’s athletics requirements.
• 1975 self-evaluation provisions. The rule does not reinstate the one-time self-evaluation and recordkeeping provisions in §§ 106.3(c)–(d), which the Department considers obsolete. 

Practical Takeaways 

Institutions should review their Title IX policies and procedures against the recodified rule, binding federal case law, and applicable state law. They should update regulatory citations, remove lingering references to the 2024 rule or “dual compliance,” and address the following priorities:

• Communicate and train. Explain policy changes to campus communities and refresh training for Title IX coordinators, investigators, decision-makers, informal-resolution facilitators, and mandatory reporters.
• Restore 2020-rule procedures and definitions. For postsecondary institutions, reinstate live hearings and eliminate single-investigator models. Revisit key definitions, including “sexual harassment,” and update mandatory-reporting classifications.
• Reassess pending matters. Review open complaints for jurisdictional scope. Conduct outside an education program or activity—including study-abroad incidents outside the United States—falls outside Title IX, though other institutional policies may apply. 

How We Can Help 

The Department’s accompanying press release signals continued enforcement activity. Specifically, the Department’s Title IX Special Investigations Team, working with the Department of Justice, continues to open investigations and pursue potential funding consequences. Institutions should therefore take prompt action to ensure compliance with the recodified regulations and document the legal and factual basis for their compliance decisions. 

Quarles advises colleges, universities, school districts, and other employers on Title IX compliance. For questions about the recodified regulations or assistance updating policies, procedures, or training programs, please contact your local Quarles attorney or:

• Lindsey Davis: (414) 277-3073 / lindsey.davis@quarles.com
• Brenna Vargas: (414) 277-5328 / brenna.vargas@quarles.com