DOJ tells judge it doesn't object to injunction blocking Obama policy on transgender restrooms
A day after Jeff Sessions was sworn in as U.S. attorney general, the Justice Department indicated possible disagreement with the Obama administration’s directive telling public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.
In a court filing on Friday, the Justice Department withdrew an objection to a judge’s nationwide injunction blocking the government from enforcing the directive, report the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and the New York Times.
The Obama administration had sought to limit the injunction to the 13 states that filed the suit.
“The parties are currently considering how best to proceed in this appeal,” said the new document, which was filed with the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The suit filed by Texas and 12 other states had claimed the Obama administration had misinterpreted Title IX of the Education Act of 1972, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex in schools receiving federal funds.
A different suit involving transgender bathroom rights is scheduled for argument later this month in the U.S. Supreme Court. The suit filed on behalf of Gavin Grimm claims the restroom policy at his Virginia school violates Title IX.
