Today the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejected a transgender student's statutory and constitutional challenge to a school-district policy barring students from using single-sex bathrooms that do not correspond with the student's biological sex (or, as it appears from the facts of the case, the student's sex when initially enrolled). Specifically, the court concluded that the policy neither violates the Equal Protection Clause nor the requirements of Title IX. Insofar as this decision disagrees with that of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in G.G. v. Gloucester County, it would seem a strong candidate for certiorari—assuming that Adams seeks Supreme Court review.
The court split 7-4. Judge Lagoa wrote the majority opinion in Adams v. School Board of St. Johns County, joined by Chief Judge Bill Pryor and Judges Newsom, Branch, Grant, Luck, and Brasher. Judge Lagoa also wrote a separate concurring opinion with additional views. Judges Wilson, Jordan, Rosenbaum, and Jill Pryor dissented, each writing an opinion. (Judges Wilson and Rosenbaum joined Judge Jordan's dissent, and Judge Rosenbaum joined Judge Pryor's dissent in part.) The opinions together span 150 pages.
Excerpts from some of the opinions are below the jump.
