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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 because the federal government is the one that initiated the challenge.
Written by Adam Liptak
Writing from the capital
The case being heard by the justices on Wednesday involves trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti. This case is a challenge initiated by the federal government.
The government’s control 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 minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would indicate that there would be no need for the judges to make a decision, since both parties would agree 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 involving a transgender boy in Virginia who wanted to use the boys’ bathroom at his high school after the Trump administration changed its stance on transgender student rights.
However, there is a complication in this situation. Three families and a doctor initially challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration later joining their side. Both the families and the government submitted separate requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, and the justices decided to only accept the petition from the government.
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 additional arguments or base its decision on the ones presented on Wednesday. During the hearing, Chase Strangio from the American Civil Liberties Union will advocate for the families, while Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general representing the Biden administration, will also be presenting arguments.
In the past, new administrations rarely changed their positions on issues. For example, the Obama administration did not switch positions on any cases when taking office. However, the first Trump administration was more daring and changed positions on four significant 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 was not hesitant to change its stance on certain issues. It rejected the methods used by the Trump administration multiple times, but ended up losing in four out of five cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who specializes in covering news related to the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar, which focuses on legal updates. He graduated from Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his career at The New York Times in 2002. To learn more about Adam Liptak
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