A federal judge needs time to consider whether transgender plaintiffs can proceed with a lawsuit challenging a North Carolina law that replaced the state’s “bathroom bill.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder heard arguments Monday over a request by Republican lawmakers to dismiss the lawsuit. He said at the end of the hearing that he would issue a ruling at a later date.

Transgender plaintiffs say they’re still being harmed by the compromise bill passed in 2017.

But lawyers for GOP legislative leaders say they can’t prove the new law is harming them. The University of North Carolina, which is also a defendant, says it should be dropped because it didn’t enact the new law and has no power to change it.

The new law did away with a requirement that transgender people use restrooms corresponding to their sex at birth in many public buildings. But the law says only state legislators, not local governments, can make rules on bathroom access.

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