On Wednesday, the Supreme Court stopped a lower court order that would have allowed a Virginia transgender student from using the boys' bathroom at school in the fall.
The justices granted a request from the Gloucester County School Board to temporarily block the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit's ruling, which found that the student had been discriminated against and required the school to let him use the bathroom of his choice.
The case centers on G.G., a 17-year-old boy who was born female, who was barred from using the boys' bathroom after the school board enacted a policy in December 2014 requiring students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their biological gender.
The court ruled 5-3 to temporarily stay the appellate court's ruling. Justice Stephen Bryer sided with the four "Republican" justices on the court.
“In light of the facts that four Justices have voted to grant the application referred to the Court by the Chief Justice, that we are currently in recess, and that granting a stay will preserve the status quo (as of the time the Court of Appeals made its decision) until the Court considers the forthcoming petition for certiorari, I vote to grant the application as a courtesy,” he wrote.
Kagan, Sotomayor, and Kagen dissented from the court's majority.
