The Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday temporarily halting the rulings of lower courts that allowed a transgender student in Virginia to use the bathroom matching his identity. By a 5-3 vote, with Justice Stephen Breyer joining the court’s conservatives, the Supreme Court put the decision on hold while it decides whether it takes up the case.
The case was brought by Gavin Grimm, who sued Gloucester County School Board over its policy requiring students use the bathrooms of their “biological sex.”
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in favor of the Obama administration’s arguments that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 could be interpreted to be protective of trans students, according to Buzzfeed, and from there a trial court ordered that the school not implement the policy.
The Supreme Court’s order Wednesday means that Grimm will be prohibited from using the male bathroom at his school when classes resume.
Breyer said in a concurrence to the order that he had voted to halt the ruling “as a courtesy,” while noting that “we are currently in recess, and that granting a stay will preserve the status quo (as of the time the Court of Appeals made its decision).”
If the Supreme Court decides not to take up the full case, the stay on the lower court’s decision will terminate, the order said. If the court grants a full hearing to case, the ruling will remained blocked until the Supreme Court issues its final judgment.
Read the order below:
