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If the Trump Administration changes its position on the case, it could impact the outcome of the case before the Supreme Court since the federal government was the one who initiated the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
Writing from the nation
The case being heard by the justices on Wednesday regarding trans rights is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal dispute initiated by the federal government.
Next month, there will be a change in government control, and it is 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 further need for the judges to make a decision, since both parties would then acknowledge that the law was constitutional.
In 2017, when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed office, a similar situation occurred. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided not to proceed with a case involving the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. The case in question was about 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 were the ones who first challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration stepping in to support them. Both the families and the government submitted different requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, and the justices chose to only accept the government’s petition.
Instead of throwing out 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 U.S. solicitor general’s office, who is representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations typically did not change their positions frequently. For example, the Obama administration did not change any positions upon taking office. However, the first Trump administration took more daring steps by changing positions in four significant cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These cases included issues related to workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration won in all four instances.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change its stance on various issues, distancing itself from the strategies of the previous Trump administration. However, they were unsuccessful in four out of the five cases where they made these changes, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who specializes in reporting on the Supreme Court and legal issues. He also writes a column called Sidebar. He went to Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The New York Times in 2002.
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