[JURIST] AP is reporting that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Title IX gender equity law protects whistleblowers who claim discrimination by academic institutions.

10:45 AM ET - In Jackson v. Birmingham Bd. of Ed., 02-1672, the Court extended whistleblower protection to those alleging discrimination at academic institutions. Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion for a five-person majority. O'Connor wrote:

The regulations implementing Title IX clearly prohibit retaliation and have been on the books for nearly 30 years. More importantly, the Courts of Appeals that had considered the question at the time of the conduct at issue in this case all had already interpreted Title IX to cover retaliation. The Board could not have realistically supposed that, given this context, it remained free to retaliate against those who reported sex discrimination. A reasonable school board would realize that institutions covered by Title IX cannot cover up violations of that law by means of discriminatory retaliation.