U.S. Supreme Court Posed to Act in Transgender Student Restroom Rights

           The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a stay of the order requiring a West Virginia school district to allow a high school transgender female to use the female restroom for the start of the 2016-2017 school year.  The order stems from a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year.  The stay is a procedural component of the efforts to appeal the Fourth Circuit decision.  At this time, the school board has indicated that it is on schedule for submitting its writ of certiorari requesting the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case by August 29, 2016.

 

            If the Supreme Court takes the writ, there will finally be clear guidance in this area of the law.  Schools have addressed the issues and lack of clarity in a variety of ways, but the controversy around the topic of national conversation has created the need for clear judicial guidance.  If the Supreme Court does not take the writ, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision will stand, and the student will be allowed to start using the female restroom immediately.

 

            While it remains unclear what the eight-member Supreme Court will determine once it receives the writ of certiorari, or how it would assess the actual merits of the case, one thing that school districts can count on is some action in this area in the very near future that can further guide districts navigation of the issue.