Washington DC - The US Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a state law banning gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors in the latest painful blow to rights.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for trans minors is not unconstitutional. © REUTERS
The top court voted 6-3 to uphold a Tennessee law that bans hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and gender transition surgery for those under the age of 18.
The six conservative justices on the court rejected a challenge to the law while the three liberals dissented.
Two dozen Republican-led states have enacted laws restricting medical care for trans youth and the case will have repercussions for the prohibitions across the country.
"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," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts, author of the majority opinion.
"The Court's role is not 'to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic' (of the law) but only to ensure that the law does not violate equal protection guarantees," Roberts said.
"It does not. Questions regarding the law's policy are thus appropriately left to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process."
All six conservative Supreme Court justices voted to uphold Tennessee's anti-trans law, with the three liberal judges dissenting. © REUTERS
The in the case in December and the Justice Department of then-President Joe Biden joined opponents of the Tennessee law, arguing that it violated the US Constitution's Equal Protection Clause since it denies transgender people access to medical treatments otherwise permitted to others.
Donald Trump's administration has since waged an all-out war on trans rights, signed restricting gender transition procedures for minors, ending any federal funding or backing for them, and declaring that the US will only recognize two genders: male and female.
Chase Strangio, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, representing three transgender teens, their parents, and a Memphis-based doctor, said that the Tennessee law has "taken away the only treatment that relieved years of suffering" for the plaintiffs in the case.
"What they've done is impose a blunderbuss ban, overriding the very careful judgment of parents who love and care for their children and the doctors who have recommended the treatment," said Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the court.
In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Tennessee law constitutes blatant sex discrimination and the court's decision "authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them."
