Supreme Court would not block transgender students from using school bathroom
Supreme Court would not let South Carolina enforce ban on transgender bathrooms in schools
The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied South Carolina request to enforce a ban on transgender students using school bathrooms that match their gender identity.
The emergency order upholds a lower court's decision that allowed a transgender teen, identified in court documents as John Doe, to use the boys' bathroom at her school while she continues her court challenge to state policy.
The state law under which the lawsuit was filed requires students to use the restrooms that correspond to their biological sex “at the time of birth.”
In a brief, unsigned order, the high court emphasized that, in denying South Carolina’s request to stay the Court of Appeals’ decision for the 4th. Circuit, wasn’t analyzing the merits of the challenge brought by the teen, known simply as John Doe.
Instead, the court wrote that its opinion: “Is based on the applicable standards for obtaining emergency relief from this Court,” for example, whether the state would suffer permanent harm if the lower court’s decision weren’t stayed.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch indicated they would have granted the state’s request, allowing it to implement the law while the litigation continues.
John Doe’s lawyers argued that the 4th Circuit’s order was narrow and “applies only to John.”
South Carolina can enforce the law against other transgender students at other schools, they noted, while the litigation moves forward; “it is not an emergency that warrants a stay from this Court,” they argued. They added that South Carolina had failed to identify any concrete harm it would suffer if the 4th Circuit’s order Circuit remained in effect for now.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Alexandra Brodsky of Public Justice, who represents Doe,He stated that the court’s order “reaffirms what we all know: Contrary to South Carolina’s insistence, trans students are not emergencies. They are not threats. They are young people seeking to learn and grow in school, despite the state-imposed hostility they too often face.”