The Obama administration is making an 11th-hour effort to defend its policies on allowing transgender individuals to use restrooms at public schools and workplaces that correspond to their gender identity, stressing that its guidance on the subject is non-binding on states and school districts.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief Jan. 6 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, in New Orleans, asking the court to toss out a nationwide injunction issued by a federal district judge in Texas last year that blocks various forms of the administration’s transgender guidance.
While Texas and 10 other states, along with school districts from two other states, filed the lawsuit and sought the injunction, 12 other states and the District of Columbia filed a brief in the district court stating that they welcome the transgender guidance, the department points out.
