The US Supreme Court, in a landmark decision on Wednesday, upheld the law banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The decision to uphold Tennessee’s ban mars a crucial moment in the nationwide legal battle over trans rights. The judgment was delivered 6-3 by the court’s conservative majority.
The ruling comes at a time when several states have come up with laws that target transgender individuals, especially minors. These state legislations follow repeated efforts by President Donald Trump to restrict transgender rights. Trump, after being elected to power for the second time, has made comments and calling it “transgender lunacy”.
Chief Justice Roberts Writes for the Majority
Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, acknowledged the complexity of the issue and said, “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 wrote. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements.”
The opinion was backed by all six conservative justices.
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Liberal Justices Strongly Dissent on the Gender-Affirming Ruling
The court’s three liberal justices dissented against the ruling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor went a step ahead and read her dissent aloud from the bench.
“The court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims,” Sotomayor said. “In sadness, I dissent.”
While dissenting against the ruling, she accused the majority of deliberately sidestepping precedent.
“The majority refuses to call a spade a spade,” she wrote. “Instead, it obfuscates a sex classification that is plain on the face of this statute, all to avoid the mere possibility that a different court could strike down SB1, or categorical healthcare bans like it.”
Tennessee Attorney General Praises the Gender-Affirming Ruling
Sotomayor warned that the ruling “invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight” and does irrevocable damage to the Equal Protection Clause.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, a Republican who argued the case, celebrated the decision as a “common sense” rejection of judicial overreach.
“This victory transcends politics,” Skrmetti said. “It’s about real Tennessee kids facing real struggles. Families across our state and our nation deserve solutions based on science, not ideology.”
Tennessee’s SB 1 Law and the New Gender-Affirming Ruling
Tennessee’s SB 1 law was enacted in 2023. It prohibits medical providers from offering hormone therapy or puberty blockers to minors. The law prohibits these procedures if the purpose is to help them identify with a gender different from their assigned sex at birth. It also imposes civil penalties on doctors who violate the ban.
The law alos defines prohibited care as treatment designed to help a minor “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.”
Zubair Amin is a Senior Journalist at NewsX with over seven years of experience in reporting and editorial work. He has written for leading national and international publications, including Foreign Policy Magazine, Al Jazeera, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, The Wire, Article 14, Mongabay, News9, among others. His primary focus is on international affairs, with a strong interest in US politics and policy. He also writes on West Asia, Indian polity, and constitutional issues. Zubair tweets at zubaiyr.amin
