Breaking: Supreme Court Intervenes, Halts Transgender Student From Using Boys Restroom

Gavin Grimm Just Wants to Use the Restroom

The U.S. Supreme Court has just granted a Virginia school district its request to block transgender teen Gavin Grimm from using the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity. Grimm has been forced by school administrators into single-use facilities rather than be allowed to use the boys’ restrooms and locker rooms.

In a 5-3 vote the Court placed on hold a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that directed the Gloucester County School Board to allow Grimm to use the boys’ facilities. The Court’s hold will stay in place until it decides whether or not to review the case. If it grants certiorari, the hold will likely remain until the Court hears and rules on the case.

Of note, SCOTUS Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan indicated they would not have granted the stay, and would have allowed the lower court’s ruling to stand, allowing Grimm his civil rights.

In May, the 4th Circuit Court refused to rehear the case, and in mid-July the Gloucester County School officially petitioned the Supreme Court for the stay it received today, which will likely make Grimm’s return to school later this month challenging.

Buzzfeed’s Chris Geidner reports Justice “Breyer wrote that he joined in granting the stay, as well as recalling the mandate of the appeals court decision, ‘as a courtesy’ because four other justices — Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito — were voting to grant the stay and ‘granting a stay will preserve the status quo (as of the time the Court of Appeals made its decision).’ Breyer cited to his dissent in Medellín v. Texas — a death penalty case in which he was unable to secure a so-called ‘courtesy fifth’ vote for a stay of execution — as further explanation of why he granted the stay in Wednesday’s decision.”

EARLIER:

Breaking: School Board Asks SCOTUS for Stay in Transgender Teen’s Case

Yet Another Win for Virginia Transgender Teen Gavin Grimm at 4th Circuit

Pat McCrory Issues Angry Statement After Federal Appeals Court Upholds Transgender Rights Ruling

 

Image by Deanna LeBlanc via Twitter