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If the Trump administration changes its stance on the case, it could impact the outcome of the case before the Supreme Court because the federal government is the one who brought the challenge.
Authored by Adam Liptak
Writing from the nation
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is hearing a case about transgender rights called United States v. Skrmetti. This case involves a challenge brought by the federal government.
However, the government’s leadership will shift next month, and it is highly likely that the Trump administration will reject the Biden administration’s claim that a Tennessee law restricting certain medical treatments for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would indicate that there would be no need for the judges to make a decision, as both parties would agree that the law was constitutional.
A similar situation occurred in 2017, when President-elect Donald J. Trump was inaugurated. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided not to proceed with a case concerning the rights of transgender students. This decision came after the Trump administration changed its stance on the issue. The case in question involved a transgender boy from 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 initially challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration supporting them. Both the families and the government filed petitions to the Supreme Court for review, 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 different argument or stick with the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar from the Biden administration.
Historically, new administrations typically make few changes to previous positions. However, the Trump administration was more assertive in this regard, altering positions in four significant cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These changes included stances on workers’ rights and voting rolls, all of which were successful.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stance on various issues, distancing themselves from the policies of the Trump administration in five instances. However, they were unsuccessful in four of those cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who specializes in covering the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar that focuses on legal news. He attended Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his career at The New York Times in 2002. For additional information on Adam Liptak, please visit his profile
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