The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, Nov. 9, threw out a lower-court ruling that let a transgender woman's lawsuit against a Colorado county jail move forward, and told the appeals court to look at the case again in light of the justices' recent transgender rulings.
Darlene Griffith says her civil rights were violated at the El Paso County Jail while she awaited trial in 2020. She says she was denied housing in a female unit, was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a male inmate and was frequently searched by male deputies, USA Today reported.
What the court did
In its Monday order list, the court granted the sheriff's petition, vacated the 10th Circuit's judgment and sent the case back "for further consideration in light of" West Virginia v. B.P.J. (2026) and United States v. Skrmetti (2025). Those decisions upheld bans on transgender athletes on female teams and a state ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
The 10th Circuit had said some of Griffith's claims cleared the "low bar" to survive a motion to dismiss, while stressing it was not ruling on whether the jail's policy of housing inmates by biological sex is unconstitutional. The Justice Department urged the justices to send the case back.
Roberto Clemente license plates
The court also turned away an appeal by Roberto Clemente's three sons, who argued that Puerto Rico's 2022 commemorative license plates and registration tags bearing the baseball great's image took their trademark rights without compensation. Lower courts had rejected the claim, Reuters reported. The suit sought $45 million in damages.
Also on the list
The same order list disbarred attorney Larry Klayman from practice before the Supreme Court.