Long before Barack Obama decided to issue a transgender bathroom mandate for federal facilities he was going after the nation’s schools under the guise of Title IX compliance rules. That led to a coalition of eleven states suing the President over this executive action. The Supreme Court has barely dipped a toe into the question thus far and the process needs more time to play out. That breathing space seems to have arrived over the weekend with a federal judge in Texas slamming the brakes on the policy until the case can be fully explored. (Bloomberg)

The Obama administration was barred by a judge from enforcing a directive that U.S. public schools allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their gender identity.

A federal judge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday sided with Texas and 12 other states that argued the administration’s policy usurps local control and threatens students’ safety and privacy…

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor comes after the U.S. Supreme Court on Aug 3 temporarily blocked an order that would let a transgender student use the boys’ bathrooms during his senior year at a Virginia high school.

The judge made clear that he wasn’t ruling on the question of transgender students, privacy or any related topics, while acknowledging that the question is a thorny one. In this specific determination he was citing the failure to follow proper procedures in issuing new rules.

“This case presents the difficult issue of balancing the protection of students’ rights and that of personal privacy when using school bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and other intimate facilities, while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized while attending school,” O’Connor said. “The resolution of this difficult policy issue is not, however, the subject of this order.”

While this may have been a procedural move on paper, the judge was also mindful of the concerns expressed by the school district in Virginia. They were worried that too many parents would simply pull their kids out of school and transfer them to other districts or explore home school options. And for the ones who remained in the system, there were privacy and safety issues to be addressed. None of these topics were taken into consideration when the White House decided to essentially reinterpret Title IX rules to suit the convenience of Social Justice Warriors.

What’s really amusing is the fact that the President keeps insisting that he’s not the one who made an issue out of this. Oh really? You could have fooled us.