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Shiwali Patel

@shiwalipatel.bsky.social
171 followers 289 following 17 posts

She/her. Title IX civil rights attorney at National Women's Law Center; adjunct professor; survivor advocate; trans rights are women’s rights; tired mom.

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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
What happened with Title IX, what does it mean, and how did we get here? Sharing my latest substack given the renewed attention on how Title IX addresses sexual violence in education. shiwalipatel.substack.com/p/what-happe...
shiwalipatel.substack.com
What happened with Title IX, what does it mean, and how did we get here?
And yes, there are things we can still do.
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Today, the Department of Education announced a final Title IX rule that formally rescinds the Biden 2024 regulations and reinstates the 2020 Trump/DeVos rule. Here is my statement about the change: nwlc.org/press-releas...
nwlc.org
NWLC Warns Dept. of Education’s Title IX Rule Erodes Protections for Student Survivors - National Women's Law Center
WASHINGTON D.C., – Today the Department of Education issued a rule formally reviving the 2020 Title IX rule, which significantly weakens protections against sexual harassment in education.  The Depart...
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
open.substack.com/pub/shiwalip...
open.substack.com
They’re Coming for Our Daughters’ Futures
What recently happened. What’s on the table. A long read (with some photos!) on the plan behind both.
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
open.substack.com/pub/shiwalip...
open.substack.com
They Were Never Protecting Women's Sports. Now They're Coming for Them.
Just a week after the Supreme Court held that states can enact laws banning transgender girls from girls' sports, the Heritage Foundation—which staunchly promoted those laws under the guise of protect...
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Exactly. Attacks on trans women in sports assume that athleticism/competitiveness are inherent based on sex assigned at birth - paving the way for broader attacks on women's/girls' sports & undermining Title IX. Anti-trans sports bans were never about "protecting" women's sports.
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Sharing my latest: Making America Pronatalist Again: The Plan Behind the Student Loan Overhaul open.substack.com/pub/shiwalip...
open.substack.com
Making America Pronatalist Again: The Plan Behind the Student Loan Overhaul
Fixed yesterday’s press announcement from the U.S.
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Sharing my first Substack article! open.substack.com/pub/shiwalip...
open.substack.com
From the Vatican to the White House: The 30-Year War on “Gender Ideology”
Title IX is turning 54 in just a few days, and I am bracing myself for how the Trump administration will likely—and ridiculously—claim to be defending Title IX’s protections for women and girls by fig...
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Gremliny Nussboo @emilynussbaum.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Masterful & sickening reporting on the Tate brothers by Heidi Blake: A Web of Abuse www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
Andrew Tate’s Empire of Abuse
How the defining figure of the manosphere built a fortune—and became a political force—by systematically exploiting women.
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Senator Patty Murray @murray.senate.gov · 28/04/2026
Linda McMahon fired half the staff at the Office for Civil Rights—the people who handle cases of sexual harassment & assault against students. Know how many cases have been resolved since then? Neither did she. But you'd think the Secretary of Education could count to ZERO.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 23/02/2026
NEW: We led over 100 survivor advocacy orgs in demanding the Dept of Ed do its job & investigate pending sexual violence complaints—and stop attacking trans kids. Having mostly ignored student survivors, OCR resolved ZERO complaints of sexual harassment or violence in 2025. That is unacceptable.
nwlc.org
NWLC and Student Advocacy Groups Send Letter Demanding Department of Education Action on Student Sexual Violence Complaints Under Title IX - National Women's Law Center
NWLC writes letter demanding that the Department of Education fulfill its duties under Title IX by investigating and equitably resolving all pending sexual violence complaints.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 17/02/2026
“I am somebody” shaped how millions of us saw ourselves as kids, including me. That message mattered. It still does. Rest in power, Jesse Jackson 🙏🏽
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Epstein files include texts & emails from 2018 of him helping Lawrence Krauss defend against a Title IX complaint. Epstein & Krauss welcomed the then-proposed DeVos Title IX rule—now being enforced by this admin—bc they believed the rule could throw out claims of sexual harassment against Krauss.
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Charlie Thomas @cthomasjamh.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
This is the sort of statement that was expected from every university president and law firm partner over the last year. That those statements weren’t made played a huge part in where we are now and people will remember.
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Mekka Okereke @mekka.mekka-tech.com · 31/12/2025
For folks still struggling with the math: There are ~345 million US citizens. There are ~245 million white US citizens. This is what they mean by "Peaceful ethnic cleansing." Their plan ends with deporting all non-white people. Not "undocumented criminals." Not even "all undocumented people."
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
The people who do this, who conceived of it, who demand it, are real life monsters.
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
On January 13, the Supreme Court is going to hear arguments over state laws targeting transgender girls in sports. This from @pablo.show and @motherjones.com is a great explainer on why the right-wing legal movement needs this issue to push trans people out of public life altogether
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Madison Pauly @msjpauly.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
I’ve spent a lot of the last three years investigating the rise of anti-trans politics. Often, it came back to the controversy over trans women athletes. So I teamed up with @pablo.show to look into the leading figure on the issue: Riley Gaines. www.motherjones.com/politics/202... 1/
motherjones.com
How right-wing superstar Riley Gaines built an anti-trans empire
The swimmer tied a trans woman for fifth. The MAGA industrial complex took care of the rest.
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
“And I just say, ‘You know, it’s hard for me to care about Riley Gaines tying for fifth when my swim coach is accused of raping my teammates.” - Trinity Ward, Gaines' former teammate.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
This practice was endorsed by a Supreme Court Justice. #KavanaughStop
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 15/09/2025
We brought together attorneys general from across the country to tell trans students: We see you. You belong here. And we will fight for you. As this school year kicks off, know that you are not alone, and we will work to make sure all schools are safe for every student.
youtu.be
"We Have Your Back:" A Message to Trans Students from State Attorneys General
YouTube video by National Women's Law Center
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Transgender people are owed a retraction and apology from @wsj.com. The lie has already become canon to millions and it seems the least they could do.
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
This from Riley Gaines is why trans people freak out when Democrats try to carve out some compromise over sports. The politicians and activists attacking trans people are not interested in compromise! They're interested in our eradication from public life and are exploiting sports to that end
This is Ms. Gaines’s intuition as an activist, too: If people accept the premise that transgender women do not belong in women’s sports, then they have conceded that transgender women are not fully, truly women.

As she sees it, more sweeping restrictions of transgender people flow from there, including the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that states can ban gender-affirming care for minors and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s change of its eligibility rules to bar transgender women from competing in Olympic women’s sports.

“The gender ideology movement is a house of cards, and I believe it’s lying on that sports issue,” she said. “This will be the card that makes all of it crumble.”
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Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
The majority may think: "We're not ruling on the legality of Trump's actions; it's just a stay." Bullshit. With the injunction stayed, Trump and McMahon will be able to effectuate their evisceration of the Department of Education and it will be impossible to put Humpty Dumpty back together.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez @aoc.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 27/06/2025
BREAKING: The Supreme Court just ruled parents in Maryland can pull their kids out of classrooms when teachers read books w/ queer characters by claiming religious objections, in a dangerous win for right-wing extremists—enabling them to sow fear & division by stigmatizing queer & trans students.
advocate.com
BREAKING: Supreme Court allows Maryland parents to opt their kids out of LGBTQ+ lessons in schools
Parents in Mahmoud v. Taylor won the right to opt-out of classes where LGBTQ-themed books were taught.
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Congressional Equality Caucus @equality.house.gov · 23/06/2025
Trump declared June "Title IX Month" but both of his Admins have weakened Title IX's protections. Members of the Equality Caucus & @demwomencaucus.bsky.social know: Trump doesn't care about Title IX—he only cares about attacking women & the LGBTQI+ community.
Trump declared June to be “Title IX Month” to try and erase Pride Month. We know he doesn’t really care about Title IX, he just wants to distract you from how BOTH Trump Administrations have weakened & attacked Title IX: Congressional Equality Caucus and Democratic Women's Caucus logos.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 11/06/2025
The Trump administration is launching a sneaky new attack on civil rights protections for women, girls, people of color, and disabled people—through the Department of @energy.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 07/05/2025
Today, our CEO Fatima Goss Graves testified in defense of trans athletes at the DOGE subcommittee’s USA Fencing hearing. Led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, this hearing was held for the sole purpose of attacking trans people. We countered them w/facts, compassion & unwavering support of trans athletes.
youtube.com
Fatima Goss Graves Testifying Before the DOGE Subcommittee in Defense of Trans Athletes
YouTube video by National Women's Law Center
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
There’s no Alien Enemies Act exception to the Fourth Amendment.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 21/04/2025
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor — a case that goes beyond legal arguments and into the heart of what it means to build inclusive public schools, particularly for LGBTQIA+ students. Read more: nwlc.org/why-the-supr...
nwlc.org
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 20/04/2025
"Survivors deserve better. They deserve a government that invests in their safety, not one that strips it through manipulation and lies."
nwlc.org
Abuse of Power: How the Trump Administration Is Undermining Survivors of Sexual Violence
We see these tactics for what they are: an attempt to assert control, silence resistance, and roll back decades of hard-won progress. 
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Assigned Media @assignedmedia.org · 17/04/2025
This month, Assigned Media got the opportunity to interview Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social, a civil rights attorney and professor! Together, we discuss trans rights, women's rights, and the intersectionality of race. Interview by Riki Wilchins @rikiwilchins.bsky.social
assignedmedia.org
Shiwali Patel — A Legal Defender of Trans and Women’s Rights — Assigned
Assigned Media interviews Shiwali Patel, Title IX expert, Professor of Law, and Senior Director of Safe and Inclusive Schools at the National Women’s Law Center.
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
A lot of "post-left" personalities like Brand claim they were pushed away from the left but were in fact drawn to the right as a means of escaping accountability for their own actions
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Shiwali Patel @shiwalipatel.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Proud to announce on the first day of #SexualAssaultAwarenessMonth that we are again representing Victim Rights Law Center and Jane Doe to seek intervention in another lawsuit and to restore Title IX protections for student survivors. #TitleIX
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 01/04/2025
Brief: FILED ✅ Jessica’s ex-boyfriend sued her for defamation after she posted online about being raped by him. But New York’s anti-SLAPP law protects survivors against this type of retaliation from abusers. We led an amicus brief explaining exactly why: nwlc.org/dont-slapp-m...
nwlc.org
Don’t SLAPP Me: NWLC Leads Amicus Brief in Support of New York Student Survivor Against Retaliatory Defamation Suit
If the appellate court allows this decision to stand, it will be easier for sexual assailants to weaponize the New York courts against their victims, and survivors in New York will continue to be sile...
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
"If this many different judges in this many different courts appointed by this many different presidents are blocking this many policies promulgated by the same president, we ought to be able to agree that the problem is the policies—not the judges." www.stevevladeck.com/p/136-settin...
stevevladeck.com
136. Setting the Record Straight on the Anti-Trump Injunctions
President Trump and his supporters are mounting increasingly noisy attacks on lower-court judges. But their claims combine shameless hypocrisy with shameful distortions of the facts.
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Evan Bernick, a finite mode with a smol hooman and a lorg floof @evanbernick.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Con law prof here. This shit is WILD. "Plenary authority, derived from Article II and the mandate of the electorate" to disappear whoever the state deems a terrorist is not a fucking thing in any kind of constitutional democracy. It's unvarnished tyranny.
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
I don’t see how, unless our entire profession stands shoulder-to-shoulder in unity, we successfully push back against this effort to break our profession and our democracy. Cowering & compromising won’t work. He is attacking us for the success of our work. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
whitehouse.gov
Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL THE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY SUBJECT:      Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court Lawyers
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
It’s a long “memorandum,” but it’s essentially telling Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem to go after lawyers who challenge the federal government — which is many lawyer’s jobs. It’s basically a catch-all “let’s Paul Weiss whoever pisses us off” memo.
MEMORANDUM FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
THE SECRETARY
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
SUBJECT:
Preventing Abuses
of the Legal System and
the Federal
Court
Lawyers and law firms that

engage in actions that violate

the laws of the United States

or rules governing attorney

conduct must be efficiently and

effectively held accountable.

Accountability is especially

important when misconduct by

lawyers and law firms threatens

our national security, homeland

security, public safety, or

election integrity.
Unfortunately, far too many attorneys and law firms have long ignored these requirements when litigating against the Federal Government or in
pursuing baseless partisan attacks.
To address these
concerns, I hereby direct the Attorney General to seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States or in matters
before executive departments and agencies of the United States.I further direct the Attorney General to take all appropriate action to refer for disciplinary action any attorney whose conduct in Federal court or before any component of the Federal Government appears to violate professional conduct rules, including rules governing meritorious claims and contentions, and particularly in cases that implicate national security, homeland security, public safety, or election integrity. In complying with this directive, the Attorney General shall consider the ethical duties that law partners have when supervising junior attorneys, including imputing the ethical misconduct of junior attorneys
to partners or the law firm when appropriate.I further direct that, when the Attorney General determines that conduct by an attorney or law firm in litigation against the Federal Government warrants
seeking sanctions or other disciplinary action, the Attorney General shall, in consultation with any relevant senior executive official, recommend to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, additional steps that may be taken, including reassessment of security clearances held by the attorney or termination of any Federal contract for which the relevant attorney or law firm has been hired to perform services.
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Zinn Education Project @zinnedproject.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Why is GOP dismantling Dept of Ed? Because, as Jason Stanley's book says, "Erasing History is How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future." That is why we must continue to support educators who teach people's history & critical literacy in K-12. ⬇️ www.zinnedproject.org/materials/er...
zinnedproject.org
Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future
Book — Non-fiction. By Jason Stanley. 2024. 256 pages. A global call to action for those who wish to preserve democracy — in the United States and abroad — before it is too late.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 20/03/2025
Let us be clear: Donald Trump and Linda McMahon do not have unilateral authority to dismantle the Department of Education. That would require an act of Congress. However, he can still do a LOT of damage to sabotage the Department. And that’s exactly what he’s trying to do.
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National Women's Law Center @nwlc.org · 18/03/2025
"Firing and subverting the workers who ensure students have access to the programs and resources they need to access quality education and develop into their best selves is, quite frankly, despicable." nwlc.org/i-used-to-wo...
nwlc.org
I Used to Work at The Department of Education. That's why I know How Bad Trump's Project 2025-Backed Firings Will Be.
Destroying this agency is more than reckless; it’s an attack on our democracy itself.
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Angelo Carusone @goangelo.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
1. What you see here is clearest illustration why things are so messed up and why it cannot get any better until this asymmetry is addressed. Put simply: the right-wing has narrative dominance. My org @mmfa.bsky.social did this study and has been sounding this alarm for years. Some thoughts...
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Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Yes. It’s so toxic that lying - in a fantastical and easily disprovable way - carries no moral opprobrium. When did this become ok? It’s one of the reasons we’re so exhausted.
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
This development is a horrifying and further escalation of the very topic I wrote about yesterday evening: The Trump administration’s move from governmental changes to individual attacks focused on political opponents. www.lawdork.com/p/trump-test...
Marco Rubio # @marcorubio •46m
We will be revoking the visas and / or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
The way it works is that you strip fundamental rights from targets with less political support that people will turn their consciences off to justify persecuting and then eventually the state can do it to anyone, that’s always been the plan bsky.app/profile/pbum...
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Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Also marriage as a legal right was uniquely situated to allow for so-called "compromises" whereas the right arrived at trans athletes by wanting to banish trans people from public life and working backwards from there. It's not a pawn on a chessboard, it's a link in a chain.
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Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
“We believe this rush to comply is a sign that universities are willing to become an institutional wing of the new segregationists.” www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
insidehighered.com
Colleges must stand up to the new segregationists (opinion)
In rushing to comply with Trump’s executive actions, universities support a segregationist agenda, Subini Annamma and David Stovall write.
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