The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a lawsuit challenging a Tennessee law banning hormone therapy and puberty blockers for children under 18.
It is the first time that the current nine Supreme Court justices have had the opportunity to rule on the issue.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, 25 US states have similar laws, some of which have been sidelined by lawsuits.
Three Tennessee transgender teenstheir parents and a doctor who provides transgender care, claim the 2023 Tennessee ban violates a U.S. Constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law by discriminating on the basis of sex.
The Biden administration, along with several major U.S. medical groups, has sided with them in this case.
They claim the The law prohibits transgender individuals do not have access to medications and therapies available to other adolescents with medical needs.
They also claim that the ban violates parents' right to access necessary care for their children.
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration's top Supreme Court advocate, told the justices in a letter last year that the Tennessee law and others like it “cause profound harm to transgender adolescents and their families” by “providing appropriate and necessary treatment. for a serious medical condition.
She argued that there is uncertainty about the legality of the ban on transgender care and that the Supreme Court should intervene to settle the dispute.
Attorneys for the state of Tennessee have countered that the transgender law reflects the will of the state's elected lawmakers and addresses a pressing public concern.
“Tennessee, like many other states, has acted to ensure that minors do not receive these treatments until they can fully understand the lifelong consequences or until the science has developed to the point where Tennessee could take a different view of their efficacy,” the state wrote. in summary proceedings filed with the Supreme Court.
Earlier this year, Supreme Court justices allowed a ban on transgender care in Idaho to take effect, although they did not rule on the constitutionality of the statute.
In 2020, a six-judge majority in the court ruled that federal law prohibits discrimination against transgender employees. One of those justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, has since been replaced by Amy Coney Barrett, a more conservative appointee of Donald Trump.
The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case, United States v. Skrmetti, in the fall and issue a decision sometime next year.
