Congress enacts Title IX, which is signed by President Nixon. It states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..." All federal agencies are required to issue regulations to satisfy the statute.

Following the rejection of the Tower Amendment, Senator Jacob Javits proposes an amendment to require the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) (the predecessor to the current Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education), to issue Title IX regulation that offered "reasonable provisions considering the nature of particular sports." Doing so affirmed that all sports were subject to Title IX, but also recognized that sports differ in a host of areas, including equipment costs, injury rates, and facilities used. The Javits Amendment ensures that if needs are met equivalently for both men's and women's sports, differences in particular components may be justified.

Alexander v. Yale University. Title IX is used for the first time for charges of quid pro quo sexual harassment against an educational institution. The women did not win their case, but the district court did hold that sexual harassment qualified as sex discrimination and was therefore covered under Title IX. The ACLU filed an amicus brief on appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which upheld the district court's ruling.

Department of Education established, and oversight of programs funded by the Department is transferred to the new Office for Civil Rights.

Grove City v. Bell. The Supreme Court rules that Title IX applies to private schools in which a large number of students are on financial aid. However, this decision also limits Title IX by deciding that only departments that receive federal funding are required to comply, not educational institutions as a whole. This decision, which significantly erodes Title IX enforcement, is later corrected by Congress in 1988.

Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 becomes law after Congress overrides President Reagan's veto. The law overrules the Grove City decision and specifies that all educational institutions that receive any type of Federal financial assistance are required to comply with Title IX, regardless of whether the funds support a particular program or sub-unit within the institution.

Cohen v. Brown University. The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upholds the use of the Three-Prong Effective Accommodation Test for Title IX compliance. Schools must either show athletic opportunities that are proportionate with male and female enrollment levels, show a history of increasing options for the underrepresented sex, or show that they are fulfilling the interest and ability of the underrepresented sex. Brown had planned to demote the women's gymnastics and volleyball teams, citing funding concerns. After members of the women's teams win their case in the First Circuit, the Supreme Court denies Brown's petition for cert.

Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District. The Supreme Court makes clear the circumstances under which schools are liable for damages when a teacher sexually harasses a student. The Court holds that under Title IX, a school is liable for damages when a school official with knowledge of the teacher's harassment and authority to take corrective action acts with "'deliberate indifference" to the teacher's conduct.

Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education. The Supreme Court rules that a school district may be liable under Title IX for a student-on-student harassment, if it is aware of the problem and acts with "deliberate indifference" rather than try to resolve it. The ACLU Women's Rights Project participates as amicus.

Bellum v. Grants Pass. The ACLU enters into an agreement with the city of Grants Pass which gives a girls' community softball league equal access to fields. The case was filed on behalf of a group of girls ages 8-18 after the city dedicated two high-quality fields to the exclusive use of two boys' baseball leagues, forcing the girls to share remaining playing fields with all the teams in the city's Little League, as well as with the local high school's varsity softball teams and community adult leagues.

Cecilia G. v. Antelope Valley Union High School District. The ACLU of Southern California settles a case against a school district that was shunting pregnant and parenting students out of mainstream schools and into "pregnancy schools" that offered a substandard education, threatening the girls with loss of state-funded support programs if they remained enrolled fulltime in their regular school courses.

U.S. Department of Education rescinds longstanding regulations prohibiting single-sex classes within coeducational schools, and promulgates new regulations that relax the requirements for implementing such programs. The ACLU opposes these regulations. In the wake of this new regulation, the number of coeducational schools implementing single-sex classes multiplies exponentially.

Mansourian v. Regents of CA. Female wrestlers win the chance to go to trial in their challenge to U.C. Davis' action of cutting them from the previously coed wrestling team and then instituting fitness tests that required them to meet standards geared towards male athletes. The ACLU authored an amicus brief in the appeal. In August, 2011, the court found that the University hadn't provided equal athletic opportunity to female athletes, but that the University administrators who were individual defendants could not be held liable for deliberately discriminating against the plaintiffs.

Biediger v. Quinnipiac University. The ACLU of Connecticut files suit and moved to enjoin Quinnipiac University from eliminating its women's volleyball team, putting it out of compliance with Title IX. Though the University has a female enrollment around 62 percent, female athletic participation is only 50 percent. The case is currently on appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The ACLU Women's Rights Project joined as co-counsel on the appeal.