The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments over which bathroom transgender students must use in schools. The nation's highest court took a case out of Virginia.
This case could settle a question about half the states nationwide are suing the federal government over: which bathroom must transgender students use?
North Carolina is one of the states suing. Republican leaders want to protect the part of House bill 2 that requires transgender students to use the bathroom corresponding to their birth certificate.
The case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear is out of Virginia. In it, the U.S. Department of Education made clear a school should allow students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. The federal appeals court over the Virginias, the Carolinas and Maryland ruled this year that the school must defer to the education department's interpretation of its own regulation.
The U.S. Supreme Court put that ruling on hold in August. Now, it'll consider whether deference is appropriate and whether the department's interpretation squares with federal law.
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