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What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its position? The future 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 considered by the justices on Wednesday is about trans rights and is known as United States v. Skrmetti. This means that it is a legal challenge initiated by the federal government.
However, the government will undergo a change in leadership next month, and it is highly likely that the Trump administration will reject the Biden administration’s stance that a Tennessee law prohibiting certain medical treatment for transgender minors goes against the Constitution.
Typically, if both sides agree that a law is constitutional, there would be no need for the justices to make a decision on the matter.
A similar situation occurred in 2017 when President-elect Donald J. Trump first assumed office. In March of that year, the Supreme Court decided not to proceed with a case regarding the rights of transgender students after the Trump administration changed its stance. This case involved a transgender boy in Virginia who was fighting for 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 requests for the Supreme Court to review the case, but the justices only accepted the government’s petition.
Instead of immediately throwing out the case, the court may decide to approve the companion petition at a later time. The court has the option 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 typically did not make many changes to existing positions. However, the Obama administration did not change any positions when it took office. The first Trump administration was more daring in this regard, changing positions in four significant cases during its first full Supreme Court term. These changes included stances on workers’ rights and voting rolls, and the administration was successful in all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stance on certain issues. They went against the approaches taken by the Trump administration five times, but ended up losing in four of those cases as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who focuses on reporting on the Supreme Court and writes a regular column called Sidebar that discusses legal news. He attended Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his career with The New York Times in 2002.
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