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If the Trump Administration changes its stance on the case, it could impact the outcome of the case before the Supreme Court since the federal government initially brought the challenge.
Authored by Adam Liptak
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The case being discussed by the judges on Wednesday is about trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti. This means that it is a legal challenge initiated by the federal government.
The government’s leadership is set to shift 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 is unconstitutional.
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 considered constitutional.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump took office. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss a case involving the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. The case 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 initially challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration stepping in to support them. Both the families and the government separately submitted requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but only the government’s petition was accepted by the justices.
Instead of 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. During this time, Chase Strangio from the American Civil Liberties Union will present the families’ case alongside Elizabeth B. Prelogar, who is representing the Biden administration as the U.S. solicitor general.
In the past, new administrations would rarely change their positions. However, the Obama administration maintained its stance on all cases when it took office. On the other hand, the first Trump administration was more daring and changed positions in four important cases during its first full term in the Supreme Court. These cases involved workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four instances.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stance on certain issues, distancing themselves from the approaches taken by the Trump administration in five instances. However, they were unsuccessful in four of those cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who reports on the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar about legal news. He went to Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The New York Times in 2002. You can find out more about Adam Liptak on his profile.
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