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If the Trump Administration changes its position on the case, it may impact the outcome of the case before the Supreme Court because the federal government was the one who initially filed the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak.
Reporting live from the
The case being considered by the justices on Wednesday regarding trans rights is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal challenge initiated by the federal government.
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 youth goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would indicate that there would be no further decisions for the judges to make since both parties would acknowledge that the law is constitutional.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed office. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss a case regarding the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. The case 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 stepping in to support them. Both the families and the government submitted separate requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but the court only accepted the government’s petition.
Instead of immediately dismissing 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 refer back to the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar from the U.S. solicitor general, who is representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations typically made few changes to their positions. For example, the Obama administration did not change any positions when it took office. The first Trump administration, on the other hand, made significant changes. It altered positions in four important cases during its first full Supreme Court term, such as those related to workers’ rights and voting rolls, and was successful in all four instances.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change its stance on various issues. They rejected the policies of the Trump administration on five occasions, but were unsuccessful in four of those instances, 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 regular column called Sidebar about legal news. He graduated from Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The New York Times in 2002. Learn more about Adam Liptak.
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