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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 could be impacted by the change in administration, as the federal government is the one who brought the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
Updating from the nation
The current case being heard by the judges on Wednesday involves trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti. This case involves a challenge brought forth by the federal government.
Next month, the government’s control will shift and it is highly likely that the Trump administration will reject the Biden administration’s assertion that a Tennessee law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this situation would result in the justices having no further decisions to make, since both parties would agree that the law is constitutional.
A comparable situation occurred in 2017 when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed office. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss a case involving the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. This case pertained to a transgender boy in Virginia who was fighting for the right to use the boys’ bathroom at his high school.
However, there is a complication in this situation. Three families and a doctor originally challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration joining their side. Both the families and the government submitted separate requests for review to the Supreme Court, but only the government’s petition was accepted by the justices.
Instead of immediately 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, representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations typically did not change their positions very often. For example, when the Obama administration came into office, they did not change positions on any cases. However, the first Trump administration was more daring and changed positions in four significant cases during its first full term in the Supreme Court. These cases involved workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration succeeded in all four instances.
The Biden administration was not hesitant to change its stance on issues previously supported by the Trump administration. They rejected the approaches taken by the previous administration on five occasions, and were unsuccessful in four of those instances, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who specializes in covering news related to the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar that focuses on legal updates. He graduated from Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his career at The New York Times in 2002. To learn more about Adam Liptak,
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