New: SCOTUS declines Michigan State's Title IX appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider how strictly to interpret the landmark Title IX civil rights law’s protections for gender equality in college sports in a lawsuit challenging Michigan State University’s elimination of its women’s swimming and diving team.

The high court rejected the university’s appeal of a lower-court ruling in favor of former members of the team who say MSU violated Title IX by not providing enough opportunities for women athletes to participate in sports. …

Eleven women student-athletes sued to force MSU to reinstate the women’s team, but a judge rejected that request, saying the gap in participation rates between genders created by cutting the team was too small to violate Title IX. He said no court had ever held a gap of less than 2% violated the law.

But on a 2-1 vote, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February ruled the judge erred in gauging the participation gap in percentage terms and said it must be assessed in numerical terms.