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What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its position? The outcome of the case before the Supreme Court may be impacted by the change in administration since the federal government initiated the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
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The case being discussed by the judges on Wednesday involves trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it was initiated by the federal government.
However, with the upcoming change in government control next month, it is highly likely that the Trump administration will reject the argument made by the Biden administration that a Tennessee law restricting certain medical treatments for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would indicate that there would be no remaining issues for the justices to rule on, as both parties would agree that the law is constitutional.
In 2017, there was a situation where President-elect Donald J. Trump took office. In March of that year, the Trump administration changed its stance on transgender student rights, which led to the Supreme Court dropping a case they had planned to rule on. This case involved a transgender boy from 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 their side. Both the families and the government submitted separate requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, and only the government’s petition was accepted by the justices.
Instead of immediately rejecting the case, the court may choose to approve the companion petition at a later time. The court has the option to listen to a new argument or use the one presented on Wednesday by lawyer Chase Strangio from the ACLU and U.S. solicitor general Elizabeth B. Prelogar, who is representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations typically made few changes to existing positions. However, the Obama administration did not change any positions when it took office. The first Trump administration, on the other hand, made significant changes in four major cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These changes included positions on workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stance on issues previously held by the Trump administration. They rejected the approaches taken by the previous administration in five instances, and were unsuccessful in four of those cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who focuses on reporting about the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar that discusses legal updates. He attended Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his career at The New York Times in 2002.
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