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If the Trump Administration changes its position, it could impact the case’s outcome in front of the Supreme Court because the government is the one who initiated the challenge.
Authored by Adam Liptak
Writing from the city
The case being heard by the justices on Wednesday regarding transgender rights is known as United States v. Skrmetti, indicating that it is a legal challenge initiated by the federal government.
However, the government’s control is expected to shift next month, and it is 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 further need for the judges to make a decision, as both parties would acknowledge that the law is constitutional.
In 2017, a similar situation occurred when President-elect Donald J. Trump assumed 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 on the issue. The case in question 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 were the ones who initially challenged the Tennessee law, with the Biden administration joining in to support them. Both the families and the government submitted their own requests for review in the Supreme Court, but the justices decided 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. They may choose to listen to a new argument or refer back to the one presented on Wednesday by Chase Strangio of the ACLU and Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the U.S. solicitor general, who is representing the Biden administration.
Previous administrations typically made minimal changes to their positions. For example, the Obama administration maintained its positions when taking office. In contrast, the first Trump administration made more significant changes. It altered its positions in four major cases during its first full Supreme Court term, including those concerning workers’ rights and voting rolls. The administration succeeded in all four cases.
The Biden administration did not hesitate to change their stances on various issues. They rejected the strategies of the previous Trump administration five times, but were unsuccessful in four of those instances as reported by Thomas Wolf from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Adam Liptak is a journalist who reports on the Supreme Court and also writes a column called Sidebar which focuses on legal news. He attended Yale Law School and worked as a lawyer for 14 years before starting his career at The New York Times in 2002. To learn more about Adam Liptak, visit his page.
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