A federal judge should not halt enforcement of Obama administration policies that advance protections for transgender students and workers under existing civil rights laws, according to a dozen states that will file a brief in federal court on Wednesday.



“The bottom line is that the federal guidance at issue here threatens no imminent harm,” reads a draft of the brief provided to BuzzFeed News.

The filing is led by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose brief adds that federal protections for transgender people are “strongly in the public interest.”

Ferguson elaborated on getting involved in the litigation in an interview with BuzzFeed News, explaining, “I think this case could go all the way to the Supreme Court, and I want to make sure the trial court has our perspective and the perspective of like-minded states.”

In May, officials in Texas and 10 other states sued the federal government over its interpretation of civil rights laws, taking particular offense with guidelines issued by the Department of Education that instruct schools to let transgender students use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

The states followed up in June by asking the court to issue an injunction that suspends the federal regulations, arguing that they unfairly burden states and jeopardize safety.

Several weeks after Texas filed its lawsuit, another group of states, led by Nebraska, filed a similar lawsuit.