Transgender activists, advocacy groups and allies gather at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Feb. 25, 2025, to protest the state's transgender bathroom bill.

WASHINGTON – South Carolina can’t, for now, prevent a transgender student from using his preferred bathroom, the Supreme Court said Sept. 10 in an interim decision before the justices weigh in more directly on transgender bathrooms.

The court declined to pause a lower court’s ruling that the teen may use the boys’ restroom while he challenges South Carolina’s requirement that public school students use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity.

In a brief, unsigned order, the court said its ruling didn't reflect the underlying legal issues. Instead, it said that South Carolina hadn't met the high bar for the high court's intervention at this stage of the litigation, the majority said.

Three conservative justices − Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch − said they would have blocked the lower court order.

Alexandra Brodsky, the litigation director for a legal advocacy organization representing the student, said in a statement the group is thrilled the teen can use the boys' restroom as his case continues and hopes the decision "will provide hope to other tans students and their families during these difficult times."

The state argued that the Berkeley County School District in South Carolina was being forced to choose between obeying the court order and not running afoul of the Trump administration, which has gone after schools that allow transgender students to use the restroom of their choice.

Lawyers for the teen, identified in court filings as John Doe, emphasized he is the only student protected from the state’s requirement as the litigation continues.

“This application for emergency relief concerns one ninth-grader’s restroom use,” his lawyers told the Supreme Court. “That is hardly an emergency warranting a stay from this Court, an extraordinary intervention in an ongoing appeal.”

They said South Carolina is trying to force the high court to “prejudge substantive questions.”

In 2020, the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals – whose jurisdiction includes South Carolina – ruled that restricting bathroom usage at a Virginia school amounted to discrimination.

The Supreme Court declined to review that decision.

Since then, however, the court has allowed states to ban gender-affirming care for minors and has agreed to review Idaho’s and West Virginia’s bans on transgender athletes joining sports teams.

Although the transgender care case did not address bathroom use, lawyers for South Carolina said the court’s reasoning would eventually lead to a decision backing the state’s bathroom rules.

When the rules were challenged, the father of the transgender teen said adults need to "educate themselves, read the science, and stop attacking students."

“All students deserve to feel safe and supported in school, including my son,” he said at the time.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court lets transgender boy use boys' bathroom for now

Reporting by Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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