A Virginia school board asked the Supreme Court in late August to hear its case and address how much authority federal officials hold in dictating regulation concerning gender and bathrooms in public schools.
An official from the Department of Education sent a letter to the Gloucester County School Board in January 2015, writing that the board must allow transgender to use facilities that align with their gender identities.
Gavin Grimm, the student at the center of the case, sued the school board, saying that requiring students to use bathrooms that do not align with their gender identities is discriminatory. A federal district court as well as the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the school board.
The school argues that the letter “is about as informal an agency document as one can imagine… The letter was not publicized; there is no evidence it was approved by the head of an agency; and it was signed only by a relatively low-level federal functionary.”
In its petition, the school board requests for the justices to review the Auer doctrine, a precedent set in 1997 by which courts defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of regulation, arguing that the “Auer deference effectively gives an agency the power to invade the province of both Congress and the courts in determining federal law on all kinds of issues of interest to all kinds of constituencies.”
By a 5-3 vote, the justice contended that Gloucester County is not required to modify its bathroom policies while the case is pending, putting on hold a previous ruling that required the school board to do so.
In May, the Obama administration issued a letter to all federally funded schools to ensure that students are given access to facilities, such as locker rooms and bathrooms, that are consistent with their gender identity. In the following months, 21 states sued the administration to halt the directive, according to the Washington Post.
