Newly instated U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has shown an early sign of backing away from an Obama administration initiative that directs schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of the sex with which they identify.

The signal came in a Friday court filing from Justice Department lawyers withdrawing a request made last year by the Obama administration. That request came in response to a judge’s ruling in a lawsuit challenging federal guidance to states on accommodating transgender students.

...