The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined for now to let South Carolina enforce a ban on transgender students using school bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

The court denied an emergency request from the state that sought to block a decision from a federal appeals court that barred school officials in a district outside of Charleston from enforcing the ban against a transgender boy who was suspended from school for using the boys’ bathroom.

Three conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch – said they would have granted South Carolina’s request.

The court stressed in its unsigned order that the decision was “not a ruling on the merits of the legal issues presented in the litigation.” Rather, the court said, “it is based on the standards applicab

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