WICHITA FALLS, Texas – A federal judge in Texas continued to block the Obama administration’s directive that forces schools to allow transgenders to use the bathroom and locker room of their choice.
On Tuesday, October 18, the Obama administration requested that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor remove the injunction against Obama’s transgender bathroom edict issued in August. The injunction bars the enforcing of Obama’s transgender bathroom mandate, and the government can’t enforce it while it’s pending legal proceedings. O’Connor denied the administration’s request and upheld the injunction.
The Justice Department had asked him to limit the injunction to just the 13 states that fought the edict in August, rather than blocking the mandate nationwide. O’Connor ruled that the court has the legal authority to impose the injunction nationwide.”It is clear from Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent that this Court has the power to issue a nationwide injunction where appropriate,” O’Connor ruled. “Both Title IX and Title VII rely on the consistent, uniform application of national standards in education and workplace policy.”
He continued, “A nationwide injunction is necessary because the alleged violation extends nationwide. Should the Court only limit the injunction to the plaintiff states who are a party to this cause of action, the Court risks a substantial likelihood that a geographically limited injunction would be ineffective.”
O’Connor clarified that his injunction only applies to “intimate facilities,” and it “does not affect a school’s obligation to investigate and remedy student complaints of sexual harassment, sex stereotyping, and bullying.”
Ken Paxton, attorney general of Texas, one of the 13 states that filed a suit against Obama’s edict, reacted to the ruling,
The court’s reaffirmation of a nationwide injunction should send a clear message to the president that Texas won’t sit idly by as he continues to ignore the Constitution. The president cannot rewrite the laws enacted by the elected representatives of the people and then threaten to take away funding from schools to force them to fall in line
The Justice Department is considering appealing the injunction in the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.