Ohio Transgender Birth Certificate Suit Hinges on Jurisdiction

A pair of conservative Ohio Supreme Court justices, in hearing a case involving a transgender woman’s request to change the sex marker on her birth certificate, wondered Tuesday whether the state’s highest court had the ability to hear the case at all.

Justices R. Patrick DeWine and Patrick F. Fischer, during oral arguments, repeatedly asked attorney Chad M. Eggspuehler of Tucker Ellis LLP whether his client Hailey Adelaide’s case presented a controversy on which it could rule. For one, Eggspuehler was the only attorney present during oral arguments, DeWine noted.

“Do we have an adversity ...