Washington, D.C. – Empower Oversight is urging the U.S. Department of Education (DOEd) to finalize and release the investigative report required by a referral from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC), which forwarded information from a whistleblower disclosing DOEd’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) had been violating federal court injunctions that limited the enforcement of Biden Administration Title IX guidance.
In April 2024, Empower Oversight filed a disclosure with OSC on behalf of its whistleblower client, DOEd attorney Timothy Mattson, documenting how OCR continued to process complaints under Title IX on issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation in states covered by an injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. That injunction, granted in Tennessee v. U.S. Department of Education (July 15, 2022), prohibited the federal government from implementing guidance documents expanding Title IX to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. Despite this, whistleblower evidence showed that OCR continued to advance such cases, in direct violation of the order.
Following Empower Oversight’s disclosure, OSC referred the allegations to the Secretary of Education for investigation and a formal report under 5 U.S.C. § 1213(c). DOEd produced a report on December 12, 2024 that omitted material facts and contained false and misleading statements. Based on the whistleblower’s response to the first report, OSC requested a supplemental response from the agency on February 25, 2025. OSC requested a response by March 12, 2025, which was over six months ago.
“Court orders are not suggestions. Federal officials cannot ignore injunctions simply because they disagree with them,” said Tristan Leavitt, President of Empower Oversight. “Yet our client disclosed that the Biden Department of Education did just that when it came to enforcing Title IX. It’s now been over a year since OSC transmitted to the Department of Education our client’s whistleblower disclosures. Department leadership should ensure that the final investigative report is completed and transmitted to OSC so the agency can make it public as the law requires.”
Some of the employees involved in the wrongdoing disclosed by Empower Oversight’s client were subsequently included in a reduction in force. Now, a recent court order requires the DOEd to return to duty some of the same employees. This makes it especially important that the DOEd finalize its investigative report so it can ensure employees found to have violated the law are held accountable.
For the initial disclosures, click here.
For the response to the original report, click here.