For the third time in the last year, the Supreme Court unexpectedly turned away a case asking it to diminish the rights of young transgender Americans in much of the country.
On Tuesday, the Court announced that it would not hear Metropolitan School District v. A.C., a case asking whether public school districts may require transgender students to use bathrooms that align with their sex assigned at birth, as opposed to their gender identity.
In A.C., the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in favor of three trans students — so these students may use the bathroom that aligns with their identity. Because the Supreme Court decided not to hear this case, this Seventh Circuit ruling will stand, at least for now. The Seventh Circuit has jurisdiction over federal legal disputes in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
The Court turned this case away, moreover, despite the fact that it fits the criteria the justices normally use to decide which cases to hear. Among other things, the question of whether trans students have a right to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity has divided federal appeals courts, and the Supreme Court frequently steps in to resolve such disagreements.
The anti-trans side was also represented by Republican super-lawyer Paul Clement, a former US Solicitor General who has an unusual amount of influence over the Court’s right flank.
A.C. is also the second time in just over a month that the Court walked away from a major LGBTQ rights dispute that divided lower court judges. In December, the Court also announced that it would not hear Tingley v. Ferguson, a case challenging Washington state’s restrictions on “conversion therapy” — a technique that tries to turn LGBTQ patients into cisgender heterosexuals or prevent them from expressing their actual sexual orientation or gender identity.
As the lower court that upheld Washington’s restrictions noted in its opinion, “every major medical,…
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