SCOTUS declines Christian college's appeal to fight Biden admin's transgender housing directive in advance



The Supreme Court declined to hear a Christian college's appeal to sue the Biden administration over a federal order the college says requires schools to house students based on gender identity rather than biological sex, The Hill reported Tuesday.

"The U.S. Supreme Court left this issue unresolved. The Biden admin must be held accountable, and Alliance Defending Freedom will continue to confront government overreach," Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Julie Marie Blake told TheBlaze Tuesday in a statement.

"College of the Ozarks brought this challenge for one reason: The Biden administration was attempting to force them to open their dormitories to members of the opposite sex. Though the high court chose not to review this case, we are hopeful it will soon take up related cases—both challenges to the broad overreach of the Biden administration and the government’s repeated attempts to remove from law any real distinctions between males and females," Blake also said.

"Because the college's faith teaches that sex is based on male-female biology, not gender identity, the college assigns its dorms, roommates, and intimate spaces by sex and communicates that policy to students," College of the Ozarks explained in its appeal to the SCOTUS earlier this year, as reported in USA Today.
The College of the Ozarks filed a lawsuit in April 2021 over an executive order and an associated Housing and Urban Development directive it says could force the school to violate its beliefs by housing biological men in women's dorms and vice versa, as TheBlaze reported.

The College of the Ozarks, a Christian school, wanted to make dormitory assignments that correspond with students' biological sex.

Under Biden's executive order that required sexual orientation and gender identity to be considered when interpreting sex-discrimination aspects of federal laws, the school could potentially face a sex-discrimination action if it were to deny the request of a transgender student to be housed in the sex-segregated dormitory of his or her choice.

A federal judge rejected the College of the Ozarks' request to bypass the rule in May 2021, saying that it did not have standing since it had not, as yet, suffered injury. The school appealed, saying it did not have the opportunity to comment on the order before it went into effect, as explained in The Hill.

Today's unsigned order from the Supreme Court will allow the lower court's ruling to stand.

If the Biden administration were to take an enforcement action against the school, it is possible that school could file a new case. One such scenario might unfold if the school denied a biological male student's request to be housed in the women's dorms.

"It is wrong to force schools to open girls’ dorms, bedrooms, and shared showers to males, and ADF will do everything in its power to ensure that religious colleges remain free to protect the young women who attend their institutions. No matter what happens next: College of the Ozarks will continue to follow its beliefs," ADF senior counsel Julie Marie Blake said in a statement acquired by TheBlaze.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Judge sides with Biden, rules that Christian college must open women’s bedrooms and showers to biological males​



A federal judge this week rejected a Christian college's request to bypass new rules under the Biden administration that force religious schools to open their dormitories — including shared bedrooms and shower spaces — to members of the opposite sex.

Judge Roseann Ketchmark issued the ruling Wednesday denying the College of the Ozarks a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, which would have provided temporary protection for the school while its federal court case is pending.

The school filed a lawsuit in April arguing that the Biden administration was forcing religious schools to violate their beliefs by opening up female dormitories to biological males, and vice-versa, under subject of punitive damages, six-figure fines, and attorneys' fees.

After President Joe Biden issued an executive order titled, "Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation" in January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development put forward a directive in line with the administration's new interpretation of "sex."

The directive holds that entities covered by the Fair Housing Act cannot discriminate against someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. Meaning that a transgender person who is biologically male but identifies as a female must be permitted to share dormitory spaces such as bedrooms, bathrooms, and showers with female students.

"The government cannot and should not force schools to open girls' dorms to males based on its politically motivated and inappropriate redefinition of 'sex,'" Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake said in a statement. The religious liberty law firm is representing the school in its legal fight.

"Women shouldn't be forced to share private spaces — including showers and dorm rooms — with males, and religious schools shouldn't be punished simply because of their beliefs about marriage and biological sex," she added. "Government overreach by the Biden administration continues to victimize women, girls, and people of faith by gutting their legal protections, and it must be stopped."

The College of the Ozarks is a private, Christian, liberal arts college in Point Lookout, Missouri, that since its founding more than a century ago has held to a belief that biological sex is assigned by God and is unchangeable.

In response to the ruling, the school's president, Jerry Davis, acknowledged he and staff were "disappointed" in the ruling, but announced that they would be appealing "so that schools are not forced to open women's dorm rooms to males and violate their religious beliefs."

"For more than 100 years, College of the Ozarks has provided a distinctly Christian education to students with financial need. We will not abandon our mission. The fight to protect our religious freedom has just begun," he said.

Judge Rules Against Christian College Suing Biden Administration Over Trans Mandate

A district judge rejected a challenge to the Biden administration's attempt to force co-ed bathrooms and dorms on a Christian college over the school's religious objections.

The post Judge Rules Against Christian College Suing Biden Administration Over Trans Mandate appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

College Of The Ozarks Sues Biden Administration For Forcing Men In Women’s Dorms, Bathrooms

College of the Ozarks is filing a lawsuit against the Biden administration over trying to force the religious school to let opposite sexes live together.