The injunction applies nationwide, but O’Connor said states that have chosen to accommodate transgender students “will not be impacted”.
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The judge’s also ruled that the guidance failed to follow the law requiring that it get input from the public before drafting new regulations and suggested that the federal guidance could be implemented if the Department of Education conducts a more formal rule-making process. “The resolution of this hard policy issue is not, however, the subject of this order”.
O’Connor, who former President George W. Bush nominated in 2007, did not issue a ruling from the bench this month after a hearing during which state attorneys argued the guidelines unconstitutionally “hold a gun to the head” of states and school districts and place students in danger.
AUSTIN, Texas-A USA judge blocked Obama administration guidance that transgender public school students must be allowed to use bathrooms of their choice, granting a nationwide injunction sought by a group of 13 states led by Texas.
Harrold Independent School District, a small rural district near Wichita Falls, Texas, also joined the lawsuit after its school board – at the request of Paxton’s office – approved a policy limiting bathroom use to each student’s sex as listed on their birth certificate.
“This case presents the hard issue of balancing the protection of students’ rights and that of personal privacy when using school bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and other intimate facilities, while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school”, wrote O’Connor, who was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2007 and sits in Fort Worth, Texas.
It was not immediately clear if the Obama administration plans to appeal O’Connor’s decision.
“There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex”, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at the time. “That can not be allowed to continue”, Paxton said in a written statement.
O’Connor said the law “specifically permits educational institutions to provide separate toilets, locker rooms, and showers based on sex, provided that the separate facilities are comparable”.
ACLU attorney Joshua Block said the main practical impact of the decision is that it would prevent the Obama administration from carrying out administrative enforcement actions against schools on transgender issues.
In their lawsuit, Texas and other states argue that references to “sex” in Title IX refer only to biological sex, and that the administration’s interpretation is a “radical re-authoring” of the term.
The ruling stipulates that the injunction pertains only to those states “whose laws direct separation”. The administration said that the directive was detailing proper compliance with Title IX, which protects students from sex discrimination. “The decision is certainly emotional, and certainly an attack on transgender students’ dignity”.
“I think today is going to be a hard day for transgender students, ” Castillo said. “All students, regardless of their gender identity, deserve to be able to learn in an environment free from discrimination”.
Schools were not explicitly told to comply or lose federal funds.
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Transgender people’s use of bathrooms and other public facilities has emerged as the latest sticking point in a series of battles between social conservatives and the Obama administration that have included gay marriage.
