On August 7, 2025, a federal court allowed Idaho to begin enforcing its bathroom privacy law for grade schools, requiring students to use bathrooms corresponding with their biological sex.
The ruling is a great victory for biological reality and common sense, protecting young girls from being forced to share private spaces with males.
The Law
The Idaho Legislature approved Senate Bill 1100 (SB 1100), which Governor Brad Little signed into law on March 22, 2023. The Senate passed the reasonable legislation on March 9 in a 28-7 vote, and the House approved the bill in a 59-10 vote on March 16.
SB 1100 requires multi-occupancy public school restrooms be designated only for males or females and used only by members of that sex.
The law also requires public schools to provide males and females with separate dressing rooms and locker rooms; and it requires school personnel to provide sex-segregated sleeping quarters during any school activity or event with overnight lodging.
The Lawsuit
Far-left activist groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued dire predictions about the law, warning it would ensure schools “maintain separate restroom, lockers rooms, showers, and overnight accommodations according to biological sex.”
Uh … come again? What’s the problem here?
According to the ACLU, such a requirement is “anti-trans” which “systematically singles out and attacks our transgender youth.”
But the bill does no such thing. It simply requires males to use male restrooms, and females to use female ones, protecting every person’s dignity, safety and privacy.
Furthermore, SB 1100 requires public schools to provide reasonable accommodations to students who, for any reason, are unwilling to use a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility designated for their sex.
The provision demonstrates SB 1100 is hardly the thing of nightmares, no matter how calamitous the ACLU portrays it to be.
After SB 1100 was enacted, Boise High School Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and plaintiff Rebecca Roe filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to place the law on ice.
SAGA argued the law violated the Equal Protection Clause and Title IX.
The Ruling
In Thursday’s ruling, U.S. District Judge David Nye denied SAGA’s request, deciding the law was likely constitutional and could be enforced.
The court determined that the law satisfied intermediate scrutiny, a standard of review courts apply when laws discriminate based on certain quasi-suspect classifications, like sex.
To satisfy intermediate scrutiny, the law must further an important government interest and must do so by means that are substantially related to that interest. Judge Nye determined that SB 1100 does exactly that.
“Separating restrooms by biological sex has been common for centuries. And for good reason — there are biological differences between men and women,” Judge Nye wrote, adding,
Those biological differences are deserving of privacy and S.B. 1100’s segregation of restrooms based on sex is related to that interest.
“It is not the Court’s role to determine whether S.B. 1100 is a perfect policy,” Judge Nye continued. “The Court must only address whether it is ‘substantially related’ to the State of Idaho’s interest in protecting student’s privacy.”
Judge Nye was nominated to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2017.
The decision comes a few months after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied SAGA’s broader challenge to Idaho’s law.
Subsequently, in this case, SAGA requested a narrow injunction preventing SB 1100’s enforcement as to restrooms only at Boise High School.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador applauded the court’s ruling in a statement, saying, “Idaho’s law reflects biological reality, protecting all students’ privacy and safety in school restrooms, showers, locker rooms, and other private spaces.”
“This is yet another victory for common-sense and the dignity of women and girls against activists seeking to push a harmful agenda,” Attorney General Labrador added. “We applaud the court’s decision to allow our state to continue its job of preserving each student’s privacy, dignity, and safety and providing a quality education for Idaho’s children.”
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys assisted in defending Idaho’s law.
“Girls deserve safety and dignity in private spaces, and the court is correct to uphold that right as this case continues,” said ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Litigation Strategy Jonathan Scruggs in a statement, adding,
We hope that this decision is one step closer to a commonsense understanding of the differences between boys and girls.
Next Steps
Idaho State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield said the state is already reaching out to schools about the ruling. She said in a statement, “With this judgement, we have reengaged our school leaders to let them know that previous guidance on adhering to the law is again applicable.”
The court’s decision to uphold Idaho’s bathroom privacy law is a great victory in the Gem State. Let’s hope and pray more states will soon follow suit.
The case is Sexuality and Gender Alliance v. Debbie Critchfield.
Related articles and resources:
Idaho Governor Signs Bill Protecting Students’ Freedom of Speech on Campus
Ohio Governor Signs ‘Bathroom Bill’ Into Law Protecting Women’s Spaces
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