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What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its stance? As the federal government initiated the challenge, any shift in administration could impact its outcome in the Supreme Court.
Written by Adam Liptak.
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The case being heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday regarding trans rights is titled United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal dispute initiated by the federal government.
However, the government’s leadership will shift next month, and it is highly likely that the Trump administration will reject the Biden administration’s claim that a Tennessee law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, this would indicate that there would be no more decisions for the judges to make, since both parties would then acknowledge 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 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 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 initially challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration supporting their side. Both the families and the government submitted separate requests for review in the Supreme Court, and only the government’s petition was accepted by the justices.
Instead of rejecting the case, the court may choose to approve the companion petition at a later time. The court has the option to listen to a different argument or to stick with the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio from the American Civil Liberties Union and Elizabeth B. Prelogar from the U.S. solicitor general, who is representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations rarely changed their positions. For example, the Obama administration did not change any positions when it took office. However, the first Trump administration was more daring. It changed positions in four significant cases during its first full term in the Supreme Court, including cases related to workers’ rights and voting rolls, and it emerged victorious in all four cases.
The Biden administration was not hesitant to change their stance on issues, as they rejected the methods used by the Trump administration on five occasions. 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 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. To learn more about Adam Liptak, click here.
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