Ninth Circuit Denies Injunction in Idaho Bathroom Bill Challenge

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s denial of a preliminary injunction on May 23, 2025, in Roe et al. v. Critchfield et al., a case that challenged Idaho Senate Bill 1100.  SB 1100 requires students attending Idaho public schools to use the restroom and changing facility that correspond with their gender assigned at birth, or biological sex, regardless of the gender with which they identify. 

The plaintiff is a twelve-year-old Idaho public school student who is transgender.  Because of SB 1100, she was no longer allowed to use girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, or other changing rooms because her biological sex is male.  She and a student organization at Boise High School sought a preliminary injunction blocking SB 1100, alleging that violated the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX by discriminating against transgender students.  The district court denied the request, reasoning that the plaintiffs were not likely to succeed on the merits of their challenge. 

The Ninth Circuit agreed.  Applying intermediate scrutiny, the Ninth Circuit held that the state had shown that protecting the privacy of students undressing at school was an important governmental objective.  The court held that the plaintiffs failed to show that the biological sex-based separation of students was not substantially related to that interest.  In addition, the court affirmed the lower court’s finding that SB 1100 did not violate Title IX because the state did not have clear notice that Title IX prohibited such rules when it accepted federal funding.  

Finally, the court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that SB 1100 infringed on their right to informational privacy by making them use a different facility because the statue does not require disclosure of information to a third party, and because students – cisgender and transgender alike – could use single-occupancy facilities.  The lower court’s ruling denying the preliminary injunction was therefore affirmed.