Emergency application
Transgender students in school sports
South Carolina v. John Doe, By His Next Friends and Parents, Jim Doe and Jane Doe
What did the Court do?
The Court denied the request on September 10, 2025: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would have ruled the other way.
What's being asked
South Carolina, state education officials, and Berkeley County school officials ask the Supreme Court to pause an injunction ordered by the Fourth Circuit. The injunction was ordered while an appeal proceeds. John Doe, a minor, and his parents are on the other side. The record does not say what the dispute concerns or what the injunction requires.
What the Court did
The Court refused to pause the injunction and denied (turned down) the emergency request; it also allowed sealed filing with redacted public copies. The order says that refusal rested on standards for emergency relief, not a decision on the main legal questions. The order gives no full vote; Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and Justice Gorsuch would have granted the request.
- Dissented
- Vote not published
What it means
The injunction remains in place while the appeal continues in the Fourth Circuit. This emergency ruling decides only whether to pause the injunction temporarily; it does not decide who wins the underlying case. No related Supreme Court case about the main legal questions is listed, and the application was not set for argument.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 25A234. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.