Joe Biden was just handed a big rejection by a federal judge in the Eastern District of Tennessee when it comes to trying to impose directives on the states regarding transgender people in schools and workplaces, and such things as sports and bathrooms.

Twenty state attorneys general sued the Biden Administration, claiming that the directives infringed on states’ right to enact their own laws on the matter. The states also argued that forcing schools to use transgender students’ pronouns is illegal under the First Amendment, and that the Education Department violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Tenth Amendment, that delegate certain powers to the states.

The attorneys general had argued that as the case is being considered, they faced a “credible threat” of sanctions from the federal government that would cause them significant hardship if they didn’t comply immediately with the directives they were challenging.

U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley agreed that there was a credible threat and issued a temporary injunction against the imposition of the Biden directives, writing, “As it currently stands, plaintiffs must choose between the threat of legal consequences — enforcement action, civil penalties, and the withholding of federal funding — or altering their state laws to ensure compliance with the guidance and avoid such adverse action.”

The judge also noted, “As demonstrated above, the harm alleged by Plaintiff States is already occurring — their sovereign power to enforce their own legal code is hampered by the issuance of Defendants’ guidance and they face substantial pressure to change their state laws as a result.”

The attorneys general are from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor, who was among the plaintiffs, called the decision “a major victory for women’s sports and for the privacy and safety of girls and women in their school bathrooms and locker rooms.”

Ironically, this ruling came down a day after UPenn decided to nominate swimmer Lia Thomas for NCAA “Woman of the Year.” The case of Lia Thomas has shown — in sharp relief — how unfair such competition has been for women and girls in sports. It’s in the interests of women and girls that the states are fighting to protect with their effort, and this ruling in Tennessee is a great decision in that effort forward.

Prepare for the incoming tantrum from the Biden team, which talks a good game but isn’t particularly concerned about protecting the interests of women if it doesn’t match their agenda. I suppose it would be hard for them, since they can’t even define what a woman is.