Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced lawsuit against North Carolina several hours after Governor Pat McCrory sued US Department of Justice.
The US Department of Justice and the North Carolina remain at odds with each other, and filed counter lawsuits accusing the other of misinterpreting and violating the law.
The Justice Department sued the state of North Carolina and Governor Pat McCrory at a federal district court in the state citing violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (1964), Title IX of Education Acts Amendment (1972), and Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, and asked the court to have the state repeal the bathroom ordinance.
Several hours earlier, North Carolina filed a lawsuit at a different federal court accusing the Justice Department of "radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act," and "baseless and blatant overreach." The state asked the court to decide whether the recent legislation prohibiting bathroom access to opposite sex was in violation of US law.
"We're taking the Obama admin to court. They're bypassing Congress, attempting to rewrite law & policies for the whole country, not just NC," McCrory, a Republican, wrote on Twitter.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who spoke at a press conference after filing the lawsuit, said that at present the Justice Department is seeking certification from North Carolina to ban the bathroom law, but squeezing federal funding was one of the options that could be considered in future.
"While the lawsuit currently seeks declaratory relief, I want to note that we retain the option of curtailing federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina as this case proceeds," Lynch said.
A Reuters report stated an analysis by lawyers at the University of California, according to which North Carolina may lose $4.8 billion funds, mostly from the Department of Education, if it does not repeal the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, also known as House Bill 2.
House Bill 2 was passed in March this year, and North Carolina became the first US state to pass a law requiring people to use the multiple occupancy lavatories and changing rooms in accordance with their birth genders. Earlier, the ordinance was supposed to be implemented across the state, but later its enforcement was limited to government premises. The amendment now permits local governments to make their own laws, and reinstates right to sue the government for discrimination.
The law is considered discriminatory by LGBT groups, but the governor has maintained the ordinance is a "common sense privacy policy."
Lynch said that the Justice Department was aware of other US jurisdictions that have already passed or are contemplating similar laws, but did not comment whether any action was being planned against them.
