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What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its position? 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 heard by the justices on Wednesday regarding trans rights is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal challenge initiated by the federal government.
However, next month there will be a change in government control, and it is highly likely that the Trump administration will reject the argument made by the Biden administration that a Tennessee law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would imply that the justices would not need to make a decision because both parties would agree that the law is constitutional.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump took office. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided not to proceed with a case involving the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. The case involved a transgender boy in Virginia who was seeking the right 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 submitted separate requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but the justices chose 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 new argument or stick with the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar from the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations rarely changed their positions. For example, when the Obama administration took office, they did not change their positions on any cases. However, the first Trump administration was more daring and changed positions in four significant cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These changes included cases related to workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change its stance on various issues. They rejected the strategies used by the Trump administration in five instances, but were unsuccessful in four of those cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak writes about the Supreme Court and also has a column called Sidebar, where he discusses legal news. He graduated from Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The Times in 2002. To learn more about Adam Liptak, click here.
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