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What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its stance? The outcome of the case before the Supreme Court may be impacted by the change in administration since the challenge was initiated by the federal government.
Written by Adam Liptak.
Writing from the capital
The case being considered by the judges on Wednesday pertains to trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal dispute initiated by the federal government.
Next month, the government will have a change in leadership, with the Trump administration likely to reject the Biden administration’s claim that a Tennessee law preventing certain medical treatments for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, if both sides agree that a law is constitutional, there would be no need for the justices to make a decision on the matter.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed office. The Trump administration changed its stance on transgender student rights, leading the Supreme Court to drop a case involving a transgender boy in Virginia who wanted to use the boys’ bathroom at his high school.
However, there is a complication in this situation. Three families and a doctor initially challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration supporting them in court. Both the families and the government submitted their own requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but the justices decided to only accept the government’s petition.
Instead of rejecting the case, the court has the option to approve the companion petition at a later time. The court may choose to listen to a new argument or use the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar from the U.S. solicitor general representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations rarely changed their positions. The Obama administration, for example, did not change positions in any cases when it took office. The first Trump administration, however, was more bold in this regard. It changed positions in four major cases during its first full term in the Supreme Court, including those relating to workers’ rights and voting rolls, and it won all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stance on issues, distancing themselves from the strategies of the previous Trump administration in five instances. According to Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice, they were unsuccessful in four of those cases.
Adam Liptak writes about the Supreme Court and also has a column called Sidebar where he discusses legal news. He went to Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The New York Times in 2002. Read more about Adam Liptak.
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