North Carolina gov. sues Obama admin in response to threat over transgender restrooms
The governor of North Carolina has defied the Obama
administration, asking a judge to dismiss all legal threats against his state
for enacting a law that allows public accommodations to determine their own
restroom policies.
“The Obama
administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set
restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just
North Carolina,” said Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican. “They are now telling
every government agency and every company that employs more than 15 people that
men should be allowed to use a women’s locker room, restroom or shower
facility.”
The new
litigation comes the day that the Justice Department set as a deadline for
state officials to back down and tell the Obama administration “that the state
will not comply with or implement H.B. 2,” the Public Facilities Privacy and
Security Act.
After the
city of Charlotte passed an ordinance requiring all public businesses to allow
transgender people to use the restrooms, showers, and locker rooms of their
choice, Gov. McCrory called a special session of the legislature. On March 23,
lawmakers passed H.B. 2, preempting all local ordinances requiring private
businesses to open their private facilities to members of the opposite sex –
and leaving such policies in the business owner's hands.
The civil
rights department of the Justice Department says that H.B. 2 violates the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 and the 1972 Title IX law, which prohibit discrimination
based on “sex.”
The Obama
administration threatened to
withhold federal education funds, which state sources say total $2 billion,
if the state stood by its law.
Ratcheting
up the pressure, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) announced late last week that they were examining
whether H.B. 2 violated their anti-discrimination regulations. HUD proposed the
reinterpretation of fair housing laws in 2011, issuing a regulation that
literally redefined the term “family” to include “gender identity.”
Denying
federal transportation funds could cost the state another $1 billion, according
to the Raleigh News and Observer.
In
response to the DOJ's letter, sent last Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory first
appealed for additional time, saying that he deserved more than “three business
days” to weigh his response. The federal government refused, he said.
"The
department’s position is a baseless and blatant overreach. This is an attempt
to unilaterally rewrite long-established federal civil rights laws in a manner
that is wholly inconsistent with the intent of Congress and disregards decades
of statutory interpretation by the courts,” the state's legal brief says,
citing numerous court precedents.
The Obama
administration is merely trying to force by executive power what it has not
been able to achieve through legislation, the state argues in today's legal filing.
“The
overwhelming weight of legal authority recognizes that transgender status is
not a protected class under Title VII,” the brief says.
“If the
United States desires a new protected class under Title VII, it must seek such
action by the United States Congress,” the state holds.
"After
nearly eight years of federal overreach, we are seeing state leaders stand up
to Barack Obama's effort to fundamentally
transform America,” said Family
Research Council President
Tony Perkins.
"Governor
McCrory has already stared down big
business seeking to
topple North Carolina law. Now, the governor is making clear he's not going to
be intimidated by President Obama's big government, either.”
The
state's 10-page legal brief asks the court to uphold the longstanding legal understanding
of civil rights laws, dismiss all threats of withholding billions of dollars in
federal funds, and pay the state's legal fees.
Despite
attempts to cast this as the federal government defying Southern bias, Gov.
McCrory has continued to emphasize that the law intends to protect the bodily
privacy of state residents in public places – a concern shared by its
supporters nationwide.
“We are
not concerned with people who identify as transgender committing sexual assault
but, instead, that allowing anyone to enter a restroom of their choice permits
easy access for sexual offenders,” said Concerned Women for America CEO and President Penny Nance.
"Thirty-three
percent of rape or sexual assault incidents to female victims were perpetrated
on school property or in a public area such as a commercial venue,” Nance said.
“In addition, there are over 840,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S. and
its territories who would, under these laws, be allowed in public women's restrooms.”
Perkins
questioned the administration's priorities, suing a state over which restroom
stall someone may use, while real crises continue to worsen at home and abroad.
“Obama's
obsession with bathroom politics is hurting his credibility on the real issues
facing America,” he said.
He also
blasted the president's attempts at rewriting a 62-year-old iconic law.
"It's time for Congress to stand up and call the DOJ and [Dept. of
Education] on the carpet for their unilateral redefinition of federal law,”
Perkins said. “It's time for Republicans in Congress, who have the
constitutional authority as a co-equal branch of government, to bring the
imperial White House under control."
The
governor said in a 1 p.m. press statement that he does not “agree with their
interpretation of federal law. That is why this morning I have asked a federal
court to clarify what the law actually is.”
Attorney
General Loretta Lynch has promised to announce a "law enforcement action
related to North Carolina" later this afternoon.
