The Gloucester County School Board [official website] in Virginia filed an emergency application [text, PDF] Wednesday asking the US Supreme Court [official website] to block a ruling in favor of a Virginia transgender student. The application, filed to Chief Justice Roberts [official profile], asks the court to halt the application of both an order [text, PDF] by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website] and a ruling [text, PDF] by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website], which mandate that a transgender student be allowed to use the restroom that aligns with his gender identity. The school board is asking the court to put the injunction on hold until it decides if it will review the case. The school board is concerned that if the mandate were to take effect it would disrupt the upcoming school year. The district also alleges that the lower court gave too much deference [Reuters report] to the Obama administration’s stance on gender identity and sex discrimination.

Gavin Grimm, a high school student at a Gloucester County school who identifies as male, was granted an order [JURIST report] by the district court in June allowing him to use the boys’ restroom while the court considers the legal issues of the case. This order came after a decision by the federal court in April, which reversed a lower court decision in holding Grimm’s rights under Title IX [official website], which prohibits discrimination in schools, were violated by the school board refusing his use of the men’s restroom. It was at that time the Gloucester County School Board first stated its intention to ask the US Supreme Court to review the Fourth Circuit decision.