In Cummings v Premier Rehab Keller P.L.L.C., the court’s conservative supermajority ruled 6 to 3 that plaintiffs suing for discrimination under various civil rights laws cannot win monetary awards for emotional suffering. Though the case centered on alleged disability discrimination, the ruling applies to multiple civil rights statutes: the 1972 law popularly known as Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded education; Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin; and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which covers disability.

It’s not the first time the court has eviscerated remedies related to Title IX. Previous adverse decisions in the law’s 50-year history — and how civil rights advocates worked to overcome them in the past — suggest what might happen next.