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What will occur with the court case if the Trump Administration changes its stance? The outcome of the case before the Supreme Court may be influenced by the change in administration since it was the federal government that initiated the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
Writing from the capital
The case on trans rights being heard by the justices on Wednesday is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it involves a challenge initiated by the federal government.
However, the government will be under new leadership next month, 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 imply that there would be no further need for the judges to make a decision since both parties would agree that the law was in line with the constitution.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed office. In March of that year, the Trump administration changed its stance on the rights of transgender students, 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. The Tennessee law was first challenged by three families and a doctor, with the Biden administration stepping in to support them. Both the families and the government submitted requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but only the government’s petition was accepted by the justices.
Instead of throwing out the case, the court has the option to approve the companion petition that was filed late. The court may choose to listen to a new argument, or it could refer back to the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar from the U.S. solicitor general on behalf of the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations typically did not change their positions very often. For example, when the Obama administration took office, it did not change positions in any cases. However, the first Trump administration was more bold and changed positions in four major cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These cases included ones on workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four instances.
The Biden administration was not hesitant to change its stance on various issues. It rejected the policies of the previous Trump administration five times, but only succeeded in four of those cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who reports on news related to the Supreme Court and also writes a column called Sidebar focusing on 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. For further information on Adam Liptak, please visit
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