North Carolina, Justice Dept. file dueling lawsuits over "bathroom bill"

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Monday against North Carolina authorities, hours after the state filed its own lawsuit against the federal government pushing back against attempts to convince authorities not to enforce the so-called “bathroom bill.” These dueling lawsuits marked a sharp escalation in the fight between the two sides over a law specifying who can use which bathrooms in North Carolina, a measure that has thrust the state into the epicenter of the debate over transgender rights. Both complaints came five days after Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, had sent a letter to North Carolina Gov. McCrory (R) calling on him to say that he would abandon the law, which bans transgender people from using bathrooms that don’t match the gender on their birth certificates.