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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 brought the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
Writing from the nation
The case being heard by the justices on Wednesday concerns trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal dispute initiated by the federal government.
However, the upcoming change in government leadership 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 need for the judges to make a decision because both parties would agree that the law was constitutional.
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 transgender student rights, leading to the Supreme Court dropping a case 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 were the ones who first 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 closing the case, the court has the option to approve the companion petition at a later time. They may choose to listen to a new argument or use the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar, who is representing the Biden administration as the U.S. solicitor general.
In the past, new governments typically made few changes to their positions. For example, when the Obama administration started, they did not reverse any positions. However, the first term of the Trump administration was more daring. They changed their stance on four significant cases during their first full term in the Supreme Court, such as workers’ rights and voter registration, and they were successful in all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change its stance on certain issues. They rejected the methods used by the Trump administration on five occasions, but unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in four of those instances. This information was gathered by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak writes about the Supreme Court and legal news in his column called Sidebar. He went to Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The New York Times in 2002. More information on Adam Liptak can be found on his profile.
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