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yesterday

Supreme Court Declines South Carolina’s Bid to Enforce School Bathroom Restriction

The unsigned order is a procedural denial that leaves broader questions to be resolved as the lawsuit proceeds.

Transgender Day of Visibility in Columbia, S.C., as Supreme Court allows transgender ninth-grader to continue using boys' restrooms, rejecting the states's request to block him. (AP Photo/James Pollard)
Transgender activists, advocacy groups and allies gather at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Feb. 25, 2025, to protest the state's transgender bathroom bill.
A transgender flag waves outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on December 4, 2024.
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Overview

  • The decision leaves a Fourth Circuit injunction in place allowing a ninth-grader, identified as John Doe, to use the boys’ restroom during the appeal.
  • Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted the state’s emergency request.
  • The Fourth Circuit relied on its 2020 Grimm precedent in blocking enforcement against Doe after a district judge paused the case.
  • South Carolina’s policy was enacted as a budget proviso tying school funding to compliance and defines sex as biological sex at birth.
  • The order does not address the merits, and the broader dispute moves forward as the Court prepares to hear a separate case on transgender athletes and after upholding Tennessee’s limits on youth gender-affirming care.