Justices vacate transgender ruling
Lower court asked to reconsider Virginia student’s case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday vacated a lower court’s ruling in favor of a Virginia transgender student after President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew the federal government’s guidance to public schools about a contentious bathroom policy.
The justices were scheduled to hear the case later this month. But after the government’s position changed, the court said the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit should reconsider the dispute between the Gloucester County School Board and 17- yearold Gavin Grimm.
In what had been a big victory for Grimm and the transgender movement, the 4th Circuit had relied on the guidance from President Barack Obama’s administration that schools should let transgender students use the bathroom that corresponds with the student’s gender identity.
The Trump administration withdrew that guidance.
When the case returns to the 4th Circuit, the court will consider whether Title IX’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex extends to gender identity. The 4th Circuit deferred to the Obama administration’s guidance that it did. So far, the Trump administration has not addressed that question.
Both the School Board and Grimm’s attorneys had asked the Supreme Court to let the case proceed, saying it presented a reading of the civil- rights law Title IX that the court ultimately will have to settle.
Talking to reporters by telephone Monday, Grimm said the situation has added stress to the usual senior year worries of applying to college because the “School Board has sent this direct message … that there is something about you that deserves to be segregated from the rest of the student body.”
Grimm, whose birth gender was female, has become a celebrated figure in the transgenderrights community because of his lawsuit. His case was thought to be a key milestone on the issue. Apple, IBM and Microsoft were among 53 companies that signed on to a brief filed last week urging the court to rule in his favor.
While the Obama administration said anti- discrimination laws required allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice, the Trump administration said it needs more time to study the issue and put forward its view of the law.
The delay in Supreme Court consideration of the issue increases the likelihood that it will do so with a full, nine- member court. Trump has nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill the seat left empty for more than a year after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Grimm began attending Gloucester High School as a boy during his sophomore year. He has changed his name and has a birth certificate identifying him as a boy.
In Gloucester, a small, conservative town, the issue has divided residents and fellow students.
Fellow senior Shaelyn McNeil said Grimm should be free to make changes, but said she thinks his lawsuit has “gone a little too far.”
Shelbi Stackler, a graduate of Gloucester High School, said Grimm should be allowed to use the boys’ bathroom because “he doesn’t want to feel different. He just wants to feel like a normal boy.”
Joshua Block, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s LGBT Project and lead counsel for Grimm, said: “Nothing about today’s action changes the meaning of the law. Title IX and the Constitution protect Gavin and other transgender students from discrimination.
“While we’re disappointed that the Supreme Court will not be hearing Gavin’s case this term, the overwhelming level of support shown for Gavin and trans students by people across the country throughout this process shows that the American people have already moved in the right direction and that the rights of trans people cannot be ignored. This is a detour, not the end of the road.”
The Gloucester County School Board said in a statement, “On remand to the lower courts, the Board looks forward to explaining why its commonsense restroom and locker room policy is legal under the Constitution and federal law.”
The case is Gloucester County School Board v. G. G.
Information for this article was contributed by Robert Barnes of The Washington Post and by Mark Sherman, Ben Finley and Sarah Rankin of The Associated Press.