The Supreme Court confirmed on Wednesday a Tennessee law that prohibits certain attention treatment to affirm the gender for minors.
The Court ruled 6-3, with the president of the Supreme Court John Roberts authorizing the opinion. The three liberal judges of the Dissentted Court.
The decision in the case, us v. Skrmetti, is one of the most important LGBTQ decisions that come from the Supreme Court and marks the first time the judges have intervened in a state law Anti-Trans.
“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and political debates about the security, efficacy and ownership of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Roberts wrote. “The voices in these debates pose sincere concerns; the implications for all are deep.”
The president of the Supreme Court wrote that the majority of the Court found that Tennessee’s law did not violate the guarantee of equal protection of the fourteenth amendment, and was leaving “questions about their policy to people, their elected representatives and the democratic process.”
“The equal protection clause does not resolve these disagreements. It does not allow us to decide as we see better. Our role is not to” judge the wisdom, equity or logic “of the law before us … but only to make sure that you do not violate the equal guarantee of protection of the thirteenth amendment,” he wrote.
The Supreme Court is seen on June 16, 2025 in Washington.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Tennessee is one of the 24 states with laws in effect that prohibit all the attention that gender for transgender minors affirms.
There are 1.6 million Americans over 13 years old who identify as a transgender, including an estimated 300,000 from 13 to 17 years. A third of those people live in states that prohibit the attention that gender affirms, according to the Williams Institute of UCLA.
Roberts rejected the arguments of a group of transgender adolescents and their parents to deny children access to puberty blockers and hormonal therapy equals sexual discrimination.
He said that the playing field is level for everyone under Tennessee’s law, SB1: “You cannot administer lower puberty blockers or hormonal therapy to treat gender dysphoria,” he wrote.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor read her dissent from the bank, in disagreement with the decision of the majority.
The decision “invites legislatures to participate in discrimination,” he wrote. “It will authorize incalculable damage to transgender children and parents and the families who love them.”
“By withdrawing from a significant judicial review where it matters most, the court leaves transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, dissent,” he wrote.
ACLU’s lawyer, Chase Strangio, was the first openly transgender person to argue a case before the Supreme Court in Skrmetti. He called the decision a “devastating loss.”
“Although this is a painful setback, it does not mean that transgender people and our allies have no options to defend our freedom, our medical attention or our lives,” Strangio said. “The court left a precedent of the Supreme Court and the lower court that other examples of discrimination against transgender people are illegal. We are as determined as ever to fight for the dignity and equality of each transgender person and we will continue to do so with a challenging force, a resolution without rest and a lasting commitment to our families, our communities and the freedom that we all deserve.”
This is a development story. Consult the updates again.
