13 states ask judge to halt Obama administration’s trans bathroom policy
Texas and a group of other states will ask a federal judge to halt Obama’s historic guidance on bathrooms for trans students.
Texas and 12 other states will ask a US federal judge in Fort Worth to halt the Obama administration’s plan to allow trans students to use school bathrooms based on their gender identity.
In the hearing, the judge will consider a preliminary injunction that will temporarily halt the directive.
According to Reuters, the states will argue that the policy is an unlawful “radical change” being forced upon them.
However, the US Justice Department has said that because the guidelines are not legally binding, the states do not have standing to request an injunction.
“Plaintiffs have identified no enforcement action threatened or taken against them as a result of defendants’ interpretations, nor have they established that the guidance documents have any binding legal effect,” the justice department said.
In May, the federal government wrote to every school in the US to advise them that they are obliged not to discriminate against trans people.
The letter stated: “As a condition of receiving federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorised to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations.”
This is not the first time Texas and other states have attempted to block the policy – in May, some states sued the Obama administration, and Oklahoma Republicans attempted to impeach the president.
In July, a dozen states filed a brief in favour of the guidance.
