Mississippi to join lawsuit over transgender directive

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant says the state will join a lawsuit with Texas and 10 other states over federal directives — and threat of loss of federal education dollars — on transgender bathroom policy in public schools.

"Our office has talked to the Texas attorney general's office and I intend, as soon as possible, to join the lawsuit against this latest example of federal overreach," Bryant said in a written statement.

Bryant spokesman Clay Chandler said that Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood declined to participate in the federal litigation filed in Texas, so Bryant will use one of his staff attorneys. Bryant's office said state law grants the governor authority to join the lawsuit on the state's behalf. State law says the governor "may order and direct suits to be brought for and in the name of the state ... (and) he may employ counsel...."

But Hood disagreed on Thursday, saying only the attorney general can represent the state in such litigation and that Bryant's lawsuit will be "in his capacity as governor alone."

"I cannot lend the name of the state of Mississippi to this lawsuit," Hood said in a written statement. "I strongly encourage our state leaders to shift their focus to issues that are directly impacting our citizens every day, such as education, mental health, roads and bridges, and public safety."

Hood said that his office last year joined a federal lawsuit in Virginia to stop federal interference with local schools' bathroom policies, so he chose not to join the Texas suit. He said he has some concerns about the legal standing of the Texas lawsuit because federal funding has not been withheld at this point.

The Texas lawsuit claims the Obama administration has "conspired to turn workplaces and educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over common-sense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights.”

Bryant is joining Alabama, Louisiana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Utah and Georgia; the governor of Maine and the Arizona Department of Education in the litigation.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves on Thursday praised Bryant's action "fighting massive federal overreach into our communities."

The issue has been a hot political topic in Mississippi for the past couple of weeks after state Superintendent of Education Carey Wright's office first issued a statement saying schools would follow directives from the federal departments of Education and Justice and allow transgender students to use whatever bathrooms or locker rooms with which they sexually identify. After vociferous criticism from Bryant and state lawmakers — including calls for the state Board of Education to fire her — Wright rescinded the statement saying the Mississippi Department of Education would follow state leadership and ignore the federal directives.

On Tuesday the state school board met and voted unanimously to follow state leaders' wishes and ignore the federal directives.

DOJ along with the directive has threatened to withhold federal public education dollars from states that refuse to comply. Mississippi's K-12 education for the current year is receiving $783 million in federal funds and about $2.5 billion in state funds.

Bryant has called the federal directives "outrageous" and an overreach by the Obama administration that does not carry the weight of law.

The Texas lawsuit is asking the court to block the federal government from implementing or enforcing its new rules and interpretation.

Contact Geoff Pender at 601-961-7266 or gpender@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @GeoffPender on Twitter