The US Supreme Court has declined to lift a block on President Joe Biden’s gender discrimination rules, which aimed to expand sex discrimination protection to transgender students. The rules, announced in April, were blocked by courts in 10 Republican-controlled states, prompting the Biden administration to petition the Supreme Court to intervene. However, in a 5-4 decision, the judges refused to take action, allowing the block to remain in place while legal challenges proceed at the state level.
The dissenting justices, including Neil Gorsuch and the court’s three liberal justices, argued that the block should be lifted, allowing less controversial parts of the rules to take effect. Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that the court’s decision leaves in place “preliminary injunctions that bar the Government from enforcing the entire rule — including provisions that bear no apparent relationship to respondents’ alleged injuries.”
The Supreme Court’s decision means that the protections for transgender students will remain blocked in the Republican states while the legal process continues. The Biden administration’s efforts to expand anti-discrimination rules to cover gender identity have faced significant opposition from Republican states, leading to ongoing legal battles.
