Justices Halt Transgender Bathroom Ruling

(CN) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Fourth Circuit ruling requiring a Virginia school board to allow a transgender student to use the boys' bathroom.

In June, the Fourth Circuit denied relief to Gloucester County School Board, which wants to keep Gavin Grimm from using the boys' bathroom.

Grimm had been enrolled in high school as a girl, but Gloucester said it changed the child's name in school records and began referring to him by his "new name and male pronouns."

However, the school board maintains that Grimm should use the girls' bathroom, which corresponds to his "anatomical sex," or any of the single-stall, unisex restrooms it has newly designated.

The-one page order filed Wednesday by the Supreme Court puts the Fourth Circuit's ruling on hold "pending the timely filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari."

"Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event the petition for a writ of certi­orari is granted, the stay shall terminate upon the issu­ance of the judgment of this Court," the filing states.

The justices split 5-3, with Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts in the majority.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan disagreed with issuing the stay.

In a single concurring paragraph, Breyer called the order "a courtesy."

"In light of the facts that four Justices have voted to grant the application referred to the Court by the Chief Justice, that we are currently in recess, and that grant­ing a stay will preserve the status quo (as of the time the Court of Appeals made its decision) until the Court con­siders the forthcoming petition for certiorari, I vote to grant the application as a courtesy," Breyer said.

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