Supreme Court sends transgender case back to appellate level

The appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, and other panels handling similar cases around the country will have the first chance to decide whether federal anti-discrimination law or the Constitution protects transgender students.

Monday’s action by a court that has been short-handed for more than a year comes after the Trump administration pulled back federal guidance advising schools to let students use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not the one assigned at birth.

Grimm’s case had been scheduled for argument in late March. Instead, a lower court in Virginia will be tasked with evaluating the federal law known as Title IX and the extent to which it applies to transgender students. Lawsuits involving transgender students are making their way through the courts in Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

For Grimm, the order means that he probably will graduate with the issue unresolved. Now, his wish to use the boys’ bathroom is blocked by a policy of the Gloucester County school board.

Talking to reporters 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.”

The high court action follows the administration’s decision to withdraw a directive issued during Barack Obama’s presidency that said which bathroom to use should be based on students’ gender identity.

In essence, the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, had relied on the Obama administration’s interpretation of Title IX to side with Grimm.