A referee enforces the rules of the game but cannot change them.
That's why the U.S. Supreme Court must deny a request from a girls high school basketball coach to arbitrarily change the original intent of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in education programs receiving federal money.
Roderick Jackson had been coaching the girls at a school in Birmingham, Ala. But he lost the job after complaining that the girls were forced to use a small gym instead of the larger one used by the boys team. And that the hoops in the girls gym were crooked.
Mr. Jackson recently was reinstated, but he wants to sue for damages under Title IX because the coach claims he was a whistle-blower.
The law is clear. "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 ... "
Since Jackson is not a victim of sex discrimination, lower courts rightly ruled against him. He is free to sue -- just not under Title IX.
But Jackson wants the meaning of the law to know no bounds. And since the Bush administration has inexplicably joined Jackson in his full-court press, the court might grant itself expanded authority to do as it pleases.
Making in-game adjustments from the bench should be left to coaches -- not Supreme Court justices.
