(This story has been updated to add new information.)
Just 18 days after upholding a district judge’s decision prohibiting the Mukwonago Area School District from enforcing its bathroom policy against a transgender student, the U.S. Court of Appeals threw out its ruling in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court is asking both sides in the Mukwonago case to refile briefs supporting their arguments.
The U.S. Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit’s June 30 decision means the case is up for review again. The school district has until July 31 to file briefs supporting its arguments, while the student and their mother have until Sept. 2 to file briefs supporting their arguments against the policy.
The briefs will address whether the court should overrule previous decisions on cases in Kenosha and Martinsville, Indiana, in which transgender students were allowed to use bathrooms corresponding with their gender identities. They will also focus on whether the Mukwonago Area School District’s policy is valid under the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title IX, a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding.
On June 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a 2023 decision by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman that prohibited the district from enforcing its policy while the case was being decided. The Mukwonago Area School District’s policy says students must use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding with the sex they were assigned at birth.
The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Adelman’s decision in its June 12 ruling, in response to the Mukwonago Area School District’s appeal of Adelman’s decision.
In its appeal, the district argued that its due process rights were violated because no hearing was held before Adelman announced his decision. But the Court of Appeals ruling said a hearing to present evidence is not always required before issuing a preliminary injunction and if there are no factual disputes.
The Court of Appeals also declined in its June 12 ruling to allow the district’s request for the court to revisit the Kenosha and Martinsville decisions. But the court acknowledged that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on U.S. v Skirmetti could affect the analysis of the Mukwonago student’s claims. Until the Supreme Court ruling was made, the U.S. Court of Appeals’ precedent would remain in effect.
On June 18, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Tennessee law prohibiting certain medical treatments for transgender minors did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
In a July 1 statement, the Mukwonago Area School District said it welcomed the chance to argue that its restroom and locker-room policy is legal and does not, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Skirmetti decision, violate Title IX, the 14th amendment” or any other existing law.”
Alexa Milton, one of the attorneys for the student and student’s mother, said in a statement: “We are disappointed by the court’s order, but do not think that the that the Supreme Court’s recent decision changes the correct outcome here and look forward to demonstrating that in court.”
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: In wake of U.S. Supreme Court ruling, U.S. Court of Appeals revokes earlier ruling on Mukwonago bathroom case
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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