In February, the Trump administration revoked transgender students’ right to use school restrooms that match their gender identity. The Supreme Court recently announced that it would not hear Gavin Grimm’s case.
Grimm, a transgender student, sued his school board in Virginia when they would not let him use the men’s restroom. The Supreme Court agreed to hear Grimm’s case in Oct. 2016. Grimm’s case, which was originally scheduled for March, will be sent to back to a lower court.
Joshua Block, senior staff attorney at ACLU’s LGBT Project and lead counsel for Grimm, put his thoughts about the Supreme Court’s decision on Twitter.
“Obviously disappointed SCOTUS is remanding Gavin’s case to CA4, but it is a detour, not the end of the road,” Block said. “We will be in CA4 making our case, and then back in SCOTUS again if necessary. Unfortunately, this means that far too many trans kids across the country will be held in limbo for another one to two years. With the Department of Education no longer protecting them, we (and other organizations) will continue to fight for Gavin and other trans kids in court anywhere in the country.”
The Supreme Court’s decision to send the case back is being tied in with Trump administration’s removal of the memos done by the Obama administration regarding transgender student rights.
The memos said federal anti-discrimination laws are violated when transgender students are prohibited from using restrooms that align with their gender identity. The Trump administration stated that the documents were revoked in the “Dear Colleague” letter because, they “do not contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process.