Prom
What will occur with the case if the Trump Administration changes its stance? 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
Updating from the nation
The case being heard by the justices on Wednesday regarding transgender rights is titled United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal challenge initiated by the federal government.
The upcoming change in government control next month will likely result in the Trump administration rejecting the Biden administration’s claim that a Tennessee law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors is unconstitutional.
Typically, this would imply that there would be no need for the judges to make a decision, since both parties would then acknowledge that the law was constitutional.
In 2017, when President-elect Donald J. Trump began his term, a similar situation occurred. In March of that year, the Trump administration changed its stance on the rights of transgender students, leading the Supreme Court to drop a case involving 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 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 rejecting the case, the court has the option to approve the companion petition at a later time. The court may choose to consider a different argument, or it could stick with 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 made few changes to their positions. For example, the Obama administration did not change positions at all when taking office. However, the first Trump administration was more daring. It changed positions in four significant cases during its first full Supreme Court term, including those concerning workers’ rights and voting rolls, and it won all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stance on issues, disapproving of the methods used by the Trump administration in five instances. However, they were unsuccessful in four of these cases, as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who focuses on the Supreme Court and writes a column called Sidebar about legal news. He went to Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting at The Times in 2002. For more information about Adam Liptak, click here.
Prom
Index of Pages
Navigation for Site Information