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What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its stance? 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.
Writing from the capital
The case being discussed in front of the judges on Wednesday is known as United States v. Skrmetti, which indicates that the challenge is being brought by the government.
However, the upcoming change in government control next month will likely result in the Trump administration rejecting the Biden administration’s stance 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 decisions for the judges to make, since both parties would then agree that the law was in accordance with the constitution.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump started his term. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided not to rule on a case involving the rights of transgender students, after the Trump administration changed its stance on the issue. The case was about a transgender boy in Virginia wanting to use the boys’ bathroom at his high school.
However, there is a complication in this situation. Three families and a doctor originally challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration joining their side. The families and the government submitted separate requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, and the justices decided to only accept the government’s petition.
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 use 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.
Previous administrations typically made few changes to their positions when taking office. However, the Trump administration was more daring in this regard, changing positions in four significant cases during its first full term in the Supreme Court. These cases involved issues such as workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four instances.
The Biden administration confidently changed its stance on various issues, distancing itself from the previous Trump administration’s approaches in five instances. However, it was 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 reporting on the Supreme Court and legal news, writing a column called Sidebar. 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 more information about Adam Liptak, visit his page.
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