The Supreme Court said Friday it would hear a case involving a transgender Virginia teen that has become the tip of the spear in the legal effort to provide equitable bathroom access to transgender students. Richard Wolf writes:
The justices will consider a Virginia school district's challenge to Obama administration regulations requiring that schools allow transgender students to use restrooms matching their chosen gender, rather than birth gender.
A federal appeals court ruled in April for high school student Gavin Grimm in one of several lawsuits challenging the Department of Education rule. The justices could have sidestepped the issue pending action by other appellate courts but decided to wade in now. The case is likely to be heard by April and decided by late June.
Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior in Gloucester County, Virginia, identified as a boy several years ago and eventually sought to use the boys' bathroom in school. He is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, whose legal director, Steven Shapiro, said, “We want to get it resolved for his benefit as fast as we can.”
The Supreme Court had stayed the original ruling in which the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Grimm until the justices decided whether to take the case. Whether the court will now hear the case with a full bench is still an open question. A 4-4 split would leave in place the Fourth Circuit ruling in favor of Grimm.
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