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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 who initiated the challenge.
Authored by Adam Liptak
Writing from the capital
The case being discussed in front of the judges on Wednesday involves 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 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 imply that the justices would have no decision to make because both parties would agree that the law is constitutional.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed office. The Supreme Court had initially planned to rule on a case involving the rights of transgender students, specifically whether a transgender boy in Virginia could use the boys’ bathroom at his high school. However, after the Trump administration changed its stance on this issue, the Supreme Court decided to dismiss the case.
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 review in the Supreme Court, and the justices decided to only accept the government’s petition.
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 by Chase Strangio from the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general representing the Biden administration.
In the past, new administrations were cautious about changing positions. Unlike the Obama administration, which kept its positions when coming into office, the first Trump administration made significant changes. It altered positions in four important cases during its first full Supreme Court term, such as those concerning workers’ rights and voting rolls, and won all four cases.
The Biden administration was not hesitant to change their stance on issues, as they rejected the strategies of the previous 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 reports on the activities of the Supreme Court and authors a column called Sidebar that discusses legal changes. He attended Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years prior to starting at The New York Times in 2002. For additional information on Adam Liptak, click here.
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