Brailsford blocks Idaho Transgender bathroom law except near single-user restrooms

U.S. District Court Judge Amanda K. Brailsford issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Idaho’s H.B. 752 against transgender people in government-owned buildings and places of public accommodation. The order does not bar enforcement when a single-user restroom is available on the same floor, leaving a narrow path for the law to apply.

Her 30-page ruling said the law is unconstitutionally vague and quoted a limit that turns on whether a single-user restroom exists nearby. The law had been set to take effect on July 1 and carried misdemeanor, felony, and persistent-violator penalties.

Brailsford’s 30-page ruling

Brailsford wrote that “The Court enjoins enforcement of H.B. 752 as against all transgender people who seek to use a restroom in a government-owned building or place of public accommodation in Idaho consistent with their gender identity wherever: the covered restroom designated for use by sex is a single-user facility; or when a single-user restroom is not available because no single-user restroom exists on the same floor as the multi-user facilities or all single-user restrooms on the same floor as the multi-user facilities are occupied or not in service,” according to the ruling.

That language matters for a practical reason: it ties the injunction to floor-by-floor restroom access, not to a full ban on enforcement. Hospitals and airports often have both multi-user and single-user restrooms on the same floor, so the ruling leaves room for the law to operate in settings where a nearby single-user restroom exists.

H.B. 752 penalties

H.B. 752 would have criminalized transgender people for using restrooms consistent with their gender identity in government buildings and private businesses. A first offense carries up to a year in jail. A second offense carries up to five years in prison, and under Idaho’s persistent violator statute, a fourth offense could carry life.

The court found the law unconstitutionally vague because there were no adequate standards for law enforcement to determine when or how to enforce it. That ruling blocked enforcement, but only within the limits Brailsford set around single-user restrooms on the same floor.

Idaho’s July 1 deadline

The injunction arrived after H.B. 752 had been set to take effect on July 1. It applies to transgender people seeking to use a restroom in a government-owned building or place of public accommodation in Idaho consistent with their gender identity, but only when the designated restroom is a single-user facility or no usable single-user restroom is available on that floor.

For transgender Idahoans, the immediate result is narrower than a full stop to enforcement. Where a single-user restroom is on the same floor and available, the ruling leaves the state with a route to enforce the law; where it is not, Brailsford’s order blocks it.