On Thursday, Virginia’s Gloucester County School District filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop transgender student Gavin Grimm from using the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity.
“Chief Justice Roberts can act on the school board’s request alone or ask the full court to consider it,” CBS News reported. “If he chooses the latter, the school board must convince five justices to be successful.”
Grimm’s discrimination claim against the Gloucester County School District alleged the district violated Title IX by denying him use of the boy’s restroom. In April, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision to instruct the federal district court to give deference to the Department of Education’s interpretation of Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 as protecting transgender students like Grimm from discrimination. Following that ruling, the Virginia school board appealed for a rehearing by the entire 15-judge panel. In May, the full panel refused to rehear the case.
In June, a federal court ordered the Gloucester County School Board to allow Grimm full access to the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity, consistent with the ruling from the Fourth Circuit. “After nearly two years of humiliation and intense struggle, equality has finally prevailed,” Grimm told ABC News.
Should SCOTUS decide not to take the case, Grimm and all other transgender students in the Fourth Circuit (Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia) will be able to access bathrooms consistent with their gender identity in schools that accept federal funds.
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