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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 because the federal government is the one who initiated the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
Updating from the capital
The case regarding transgender rights that the justices are considering on Wednesday is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal dispute 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 stance that a Tennessee law restricting certain medical treatment for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would imply that the justices would have no further decisions to make, since both parties would agree that the law is constitutional.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump was inaugurated. The Supreme Court decided not to move forward with a case involving the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. This case involved a transgender boy in 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 originally challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration stepping in to support them. Both the families and the government submitted their own requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but the justices only accepted 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 hear a new 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, who is representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations typically did not make significant changes to their positions. However, the Obama administration maintained its positions when it took office. On the other hand, the first Trump administration was more willing to change positions, doing so in four major cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These changes included issues related to workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four cases.
The Biden administration was not hesitant to change its stance on various issues. It rejected the strategies of the previous Trump administration in five instances, but ended up losing in four of those cases. This information comes from a count done 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 column called Sidebar that discusses 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.
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