The Supreme Court on Tuesday weighed the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that bans doctors from providing transgender care to minors, sparking a contentious debate over whether the state’s restrictions are an infringement on the fundamental rights of transgender youth.
The case, Fulton v. City of Nashville and Metropolitan Government, involves a 2019 law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly that prohibits doctors from administering hormone therapy or gender confirmation surgeries to minors who have not been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. The law also requires doctors to report any such treatments to the state’s Department of Health.
The law, which was signed by former Governor Bill Haslam, was challenged by the Tennessee Equality Project, a state-based LGBTQ advocacy group, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued that the legislation violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment by discriminating against transgender youth.
During arguments before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice Elena Kagan questioned whether the Tennessee law is a “significant burden” on the right of transgender youth to equal protection under the law, as required by the Equal Protection Clause.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, meanwhile, expressed skepticism about the state’s justifications for the law, noting that the legislature cited concerns about the “irreversible” nature of hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgeries, but did not provide any evidence to support these claims.
The conservative justices on the Court, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, pressed the advocates arguing against the law to articulate a clear standard for determining when a minor is sufficiently mature to make decisions about their own medical care.
The outcome of the case is likely to have far-reaching implications for the lives of transgender youth across the country, as several states have passed similar laws or are considering doing so in the wake of the Trump administration’s effort to define gender as immutable and determined at birth.