The latest in the ongoing fight over transgender students and school bathrooms has come in the form of a federal judge in Texas issuing an injunction temporarily blocking the Obama administration from penalizing school districts that do not allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity.

At issue is whether federal law bans discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Education Amendments of 1972 both ban discrimination on the basis of “sex,” but it’s an open question whether that only includes biological sex or whether it also includes gender expression and gender identity. US Attorney General Loretta Lynch says it does, and she ordered school districts not to keep students from using bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity. The US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over North Carolina, agreed – and ruled in favor of a transgender boy, Gavin Grimm, who had sued his school after officials tried to keep him out of the boys’ bathroom.

But the US Supreme Court put a stay on that decision pending further review and now this ruling extends that further.

Expect the US Supreme Court to take up the issue quickly. Their ruling, of course, affects North Carolina – Part 1 of House Bill 2, among other things, requires school districts to ban transgender students from using bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity, and the US Justice Department has argued that violates federal law.

When the law is ambiguous, courts are generally directed to leave it up to the executive branch to interpret the law – that would be the US Justice Department. The judge who issued the ruling on Sunday, though, says the law is not ambiguous – he says “sex” does not extend to gender identity, so discriminating on the basis of gender identity doesn’t violate federal law.

There is a proposal on the table to change federal law to include gender identity as a protected category explicitly – this is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA – but Congress so far has refused to pass it.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory’s communication director Josh Ellis issued the following statement on the ruling:

“The federal court decision bolsters the efforts of Governor McCrory, along with 22 other states, to protect the privacy of families and children in our school bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities. We’re also pleased that a federal court has sided with Governor McCrory’s position that the Obama administration has overstepped its authority by bypassing Congress and the courts.”

The five civil rights organizations that are involved in the lawsuit, including the American Civil Liberties Union – issued the following statement:

“A ruling by a single judge in one circuit cannot and does not undo the years of clear legal precedent nationwide establishing that transgender students have the right to go to school without being singled out for discrimination. This unfortunate and premature ruling may, however, confuse school districts that are simply trying to support their students, including their transgender students. So let us make it clear to those districts: your obligations under the law have not changed, and you are still not only allowed but required to treat transgender students fairly. The scope of this injunction has no effect on the ability of other courts or lawyers representing transgender people to continue to rely on the federal government’s interpretations of Title IX or on prior decisions that have reached similar conclusions about the scope of federal sex discrimination laws.

“The court’s misguided decision targets a small, vulnerable group of young people – transgender elementary and high school students – for potential continued harassment, stigma and abuse.”