The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals is reconsidering its prior decisions that had established a legal right for transgender students to access bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. The reconsideration is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 18, 2025, decision in United States v. Skrmetti. In Skrmetti, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s prohibition on using puberty blockers or hormone therapy to provide gender-affirming care to minors. Skrmetti held that the Tennessee ban does not violate the Equal Protection rights of transgender children.
Based on Skrmetti, the Seventh Circuit vacated its June 12, 2025, ruling in a case out of Wisconsin, D.P. v. Mukwonago Area School District, and ordered a rehearing to consider whether to overrule the holdings in Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1 Board of Education (2017) and A.C. v. Metropolitan School District of Martinsville (2023). Those cases held that a school district’s failure to provide bathroom access to a transgender student based on the student’s gender identity violates the student’s rights under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In its original ruling in D.P., the Seventh Circuit held that the Mukwonago Area School District violated Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause by adopting a policy requiring students to use the restroom matching their sex assigned at birth. Like the school policies at issue in both Whitaker and Martinsville, the Mukwonago policy would require a female transgender student to use the boys’ bathroom and locker room or a gender-neutral alternative, thereby preventing the student from using the facilities corresponding with her gender identity.
While the Seventh Circuit has not yet decided the issue, its decision to reconsider precedent on transgender student rights may signal a potential shift in the legal landscape. The school district has been directed to file a brief by July 31, and the student has been directed to file her brief by September 2. The Court could issue a decision any time thereafter. Based on the briefing schedule, the case will not be resolved before the start of the new school year.
