The legal fight over transgender bathroom rights reached the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time on Wednesday as a Virginia county school board sought to block an order that lets a student who was born a girl but now identifies as male use the boys’ bathroom.
Transgender rights have become an increasing divisive issue in the United States, and the use of public bathrooms has been a key part of the controversy.
The Gloucester County School Board filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court in a bid to prevent high school student Gavin Grimm, 17, from using the boys’ bathroom when school resumes in September while litigation in the case continues.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of Grimm to challenge the school board’s bathroom policy, which requires transgender students to use alternative restroom facilities.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to put on hold a district court’s injunction favoring Grimm.
The school board’s application was directed to Chief Justice John Roberts, who has responsibility for emergency actions that arise from the regional federal appeals court that covers Virginia. Roberts could act alone or refer the matter to all eight justices. Five votes are need to grant a stay application.
Getting five votes for that would mean peeling off one of the liberal Justices, so I certainly hope that isn’t in the cards. The original lawsuit has not gone to trial yet, this is just about the district court judge’s injunction blocking the school board from implementing its policy requiring transgender students to use separate facilities. This is a big test of which way the winds may be blowing on this issue at SCOTUS, and may have an effect on the lawsuit against North Carolina’s HB2 and possibly the Paxton potty lawsuits as well. Politico has more.