Bathroom rule overreach could backfire on president

The Obama administration has overstepped in telling all American school districts they must permit transgender students to use the public restrooms and locker rooms of their choice, or else. As with previous failures to better pick its battles, the White House may again find its efforts counterproductive.

The U.S. Justice and Education departments couched their communication with school districts last week in terms of providing “guidance” to educators across the country, some of whom had requested it, but “guidance” doesn’t usually come with threats, in this case of lawsuits and interruptions of federal funding.

Education Secretary John B. King said that “we must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence,” which is not wrong but which may now guarantee the opposite, given the inevitable blowback triggered by the federal government’s overreaction.

What if states and school districts band together — as they almost certainly will, as some including Texas have already promised — to defy this directive? How does withholding billions of dollars advance the cause of guaranteeing “a great education” for all students? Might this resurrect efforts to clamp down or even close the doors on a U.S. Education Department in a nation with a Republican Congress, with a Constitution that makes no mention of “education” as a federal government responsibility, with a dubious track record — see No Child Left Behind, see Common Core — of micromanaging classrooms (and now bathrooms) from Washington?

The Obama administration has taken an early-round fight with one state — North Carolina — and in knee-jerk fashion unnecessarily expanded it to the entire nation, where in addition to finding the usual suspects among its adversaries it may also discover those who disagree less with what was done than how. Again, the administration’s strong-arm instincts — as on immigration — are on full display.

We’ve been here before, of course. The White House poked a hornet’s nest following its narrow win on ObamaCare in 2010 by trying to impose a contraception mandate on employers that weren’t churches in the insurance coverage they offered employees. Then we urged the federal government to “leave well enough alone” — as we did last week on this bathroom issue — at a time when it needed to be adding friends, not courting enemies. What followed were lawsuits from employers citing their religious objections and their First Amendment protection to have them, conflict that continues to this day over the Affordable Care Act, and ultimately a loss for the government’s position at the U.S. Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby.

Arguably the Obama administration is making a similar mistake here, misconstruing one victory — same-sex marriage — as a green light to move fast and furiously on an issue for which the nation was not quite as ready. From this vantage, the White House may have another Hobby Lobby on its hands, with its reading of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of 1972 with regard to this matter by no means a slam dunk. Indeed, the scrutiny those laws are about to get runs the risk of setting back the administration’s cause, not moving it forward.

Meanwhile, taxpayers get to pony up for much of the legal bickering, perhaps with the consolation prize of a Trump who promises, well, anything and everything depending on the audience, but also to be the unObama on matters like this one. Thanks for nothin’.

We appreciate that many in the LGBT camp are applauding this move. Beware the old saw, be careful what you wish for. Expect court petitions to stall the enforcement of this order, the rise of opposition camps that sadly specialize in playing to the irrationality of some Americans, and a spotlight on those — some quite young — who never wanted one, who just wanted to be accepted. Arguably these matters were sorting themselves out in local jurisdictions across the country, with most folks none the worse for not being consulted. Not anymore.

Again, Uncle Sam sometimes does more damage than good by leaving his fingerprints in every nook and cranny of our lives. “Leave well enough alone” was good advice and the administration should have taken it. Instead, here we go again.

— Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.