As previously reported, last year a Texas federal district court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring the federal government from enforcing Guidelines interpreting Title IX as barring discrimination by schools on the basis of gender identity. In particular the Guidelines took the position that transgender students must have access to restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. Subsequently the Obama administration asked the court for a partial stay that would limit the injunction, pending appeal, to the 13 states that were plaintiffs in the case. As reported by AP, a hearing on that motion was to have been held Feb. 14. However on Friday, the Justice Department withdrew the government's request for a partial stay, and indicated it was "currently considering how best to proceed in this appeal." (Full text of court filing.)
Last week, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals approved a similar nationwide injunction against President Trump's Executive Order barring travel from seven Muslim countries. (See prior posting.) In its unsuccessful motion for a stay (full text, see pg. 24), the Justice Department argued that a nationwide injunction was improper because it went beyond providing relief to the plaintiffs in the case.
