SCOTUS Blocks Transgender Bathroom Order but Don’t Celebrate Yet
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked a court order that allowed a transgendered boy to use the boy’s restroom in a Virginia high school. The decision comes amidst strong debate over whether or not self-proclaimed ‘transgendered’ individuals should be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.
The New York Times reports that the 5-3 vote, with Justice Stephen Breyer joining the conservatives on the court “as a courtesy,” blocked a court order by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit until such a time as the Supreme Court decides to hear the case itself.
The facts of the case are as follows:
The case in the Supreme Court concerns Gavin Grimm, who was born female but identifies as a male and will soon start his senior year at Gloucester High School in southeastern Virginia. For a time, school administrators allowed Mr. Grimm to use the boys’ bathroom, but the local school board adopted a policy that required students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms for their “corresponding biological genders.” The board added that “students with gender identity issues” would be allowed to use private bathrooms.
Mr. Grimm sued, and a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., ruled the policy unlawful. A trial judge then ordered school officials to let Mr. Grimm use the boys’ bathroom.
The SCOTUS vote has overturned that decision from the Fourth Circuit.
Conservative Review Senior Editor Daniel Horowitz warned that conservatives should not be quick to take heart at the court’s decision. “While it is certainly welcome that the high court didn’t rule the other way, this is no reason to cheer the Judiciary,” Horowitz said.
“It’s bad enough there are those promoting gender bending as a matter of policy and even worse that the Fourth Circuit is mandating it as a matter of law. It would have been absolutely ludicrous for the court not to issue a stay on such a dramatic and irrevocably harmful social transformation pending the outcome of the case. It is therefore troubling that three Supreme Court justices and the Fourth Circuit wanted to even deny the stay. Either way, it’s important to remember that no federal court should ever have the authority to coerce a school district to allow opposite genders in separate-sex bathrooms, much less enshrine such a revolutionary idea into a 1972 statute or the 14th Amendment ratified in 1868.”
The fact that the court is even weighing in on whether or not individuals should be allowed to use the restroom of the opposite gender is a sign of the Left’s successful campaign in the culture war. And there’s no telling if the court will side with conservatives in the next case. (For more from the author of “SCOTUS Blocks Transgender Bathroom Order but Don’t Celebrate Yet” please click HERE)
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