Catherine Lhamon will return to lead the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights after the Senate narrowly confirmed her appointment in a party-line vote, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking the 50-50 tie. The Wednesday vote came more than five months after Lhamon was tapped by President Joe Biden as the nominee for assistant secretary for civil rights, a position she held under the Obama administration from 2013 to 2016. The nomination was then stalled in August following a deadlock in the Senate education committee. Lhamon is expected to play a key role in the Biden administration’s overhaul of rules regarding Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational settings. The Biden administration’s efforts include expanding Title IX protections to cover gender identity and sexual orientation, and potentially rolling back rules made by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who bolstered due process rights of those accused …