The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Tennessee’s ban on transgender puberty blockers and hormone therapy treatments for minors in a 6-3 decision in a major win for more than half of US states that have similar laws on the books.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion backed by his five fellow conservative justices, which held that Tennessee’s law — and by extension 26 similar bills passed in other states — doesn’t violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The three liberal justices dissented.
“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Roberts acknowledged in the majority opinion.
“Our role … is only to ensure that it does not violate the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment,” he went on. “Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process.”
In 2023, Tennessee passed Senate Bill 1, to prohibit health care providers from administering procedures on minors “the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” The law includes exemptions for children with congenital defects or chromosomal anomalies.
The Biden administration, three transgender minors, their parents, and a doctor promptly challenged the law, drawing mixed decisions in the lower courts, the most recent of which — the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit — backed Tennessee.
More than 1.6 million Americans ages 13 and older identify as transgender, according to data cited by the Supreme Court.
A district court had found that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the ban on transgender surgeries for minors, which is why the Supreme Court focused on its implications for puberty blockers and hormone therapy treatments specifically. The law’s ban on surgeries for transgender minors was not before the high court. --->READ MORE HERE
Petitioners in the case argue that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee law banning specific transgender medical treatments for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory, ruling 6-3 to uphold the law.
At issue in the case, United States v. Skrmetti, was whether Tennessee's Senate Bill 1, which "prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow 'a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex' or to treat 'purported discomfort or distress from a discordance between the minor's sex and asserted identity,'" violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
That law prohibits states from allowing medical providers to deliver puberty blockers and hormones to facilitate a minor's transition to another sex.
It also targets healthcare providers in the state who continue to provide such procedures to gender-dysphoric minors— opening these providers up to fines, lawsuits and other liability.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the law question is not subject to heightened scrutiny "because it does not classify on any bases that warrant heightened review."
"This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field," he said. "The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound."
United States v. Skrmetti was one of the most closely watched cases of the Supreme Court’s term, with potential ripple effects for ongoing legal battles over transgender rights – including bathroom access and participation in school sports.
The ruling could also serve as a legal pretext in future cases involving LGBTQ+ protections, including whether sexual orientation qualifies as a "protected class" on par with race or national origin. --->READ MORE HEREFollow link below to a relevant story:
+++++SCOTUS solidifies states' ability to ban trans care+++++
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