An anti-Trump lawyer spun a "surprise" Supreme Court ruling against the Democrats as a potential opportunity for the Kamala Harris campaign.
In August, the Supreme Court declined to unblock a Biden-Harris rule barring discrimination in education on the basis of "gender identity."
The rule repurposes Title IX, a 50-year-old civil rights law barring sex-based discrimination in schools receiving federal funding. Republicans have blasted Biden's expanded Title IX as a contradiction of the law's original purpose to protect women and girls.
The Biden version requires schools to allow students to use bathrooms and locker rooms for the opposite sex and mandates the use of transgender pronouns. The rule also reinstates Obama-era rules that denied due process to students accused of sexual assault.
The Biden administration argued the bulk of the rule could be separated from the challenged transgender provisions, but the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that they could not be severed because they are "intertwined with and affect other provisions of the rule."
The justices agreed unanimously to leave lower court injunctions against the transgender parts of the rule. Republicans have successfully blocked the rule in 26 states.
"[A]ll Members of the Court today accept that the plaintiffs were entitled to preliminary injunctive relief as to three provisions of the rule, including the central provision that newly defines sex discrimination to include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity," the court wrote.
During a discussion on the MeidasTouch podcast, lawyer Michael Popok called the ruling a "surprise" win for Harris and her message that Donald Trump is a threat to the rights of Americans. Trump appointed three of the justices in the conservative majority.
"For Kamala Harris in the campaign, it is a gift, Popok said. "It puts, once again, Donald Trump, his misogyny, his being against women, the platform on abortion, the platform against women's autonomy and reproductive rights, squarely on the ballot for November."
Harris has placed abortion at the center of her campaign, which has deployed broad themes like "freedom" and "joy" while forgoing policy detail. She has been criticized for failing to take clear positions and flipflopping on key issues.
But according to Popok, the ruling could help Harris appeal to Americans on an emotional level, with a message that "we see you."
"'We see you transgender people. We see you people that are concerned about their gender identity being discriminated against. We see you pregnant women. We see you women who don't want to be pregnant,'" he said.
