Reuters: Supreme Court May Wait To Decide Transgender School Bathroom Cases

Lawrence Hurly reported for Reuters yesterday that the U.S. Supreme Court may be reluctant to take up  Gloucester Co. Sch. Bd. v. G.G., the case of 17-year-old transgender student Gavin Grimm, who was barred by his school from using the the boys’ restroom at school, despite him having a state ID that identifies him as male. This upcoming school year, Grimm will have to use a separate single-stall restroom. On August 3, the Supreme Court granted an emergency stay recalling the mandate of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that would have allowed Grimm to use a bathroom congruent with his gender identity. The stay reinstated the the Eastern District of Virginia's June 2016 preliminary injunction order denying Grimm's request to use the boys’ restroom. Hurly predicts that the short-handed Supreme Court will be cautious about granting certiorari, particularly because the decision could end in a 4-4 deadlock and because the Fourth Circuit's ruling was the first decision of its kind in the federal circuits. Hurly's article is here.