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By Jenna Sundel
News Reporter
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Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the Supreme Court countered "decades" of legal precedent in its decision to uphold a Tennessee law banning certain medical treatments for transgender youth.
The Court ruled 6-3 to uphold the legislation on Wednesday, with liberal Justices Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan dissenting.
The Court's majority opinion, delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts, states that some medical treatments are "uniquely bound up in sex."
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"In the medical context, the mere use of sex-based language does not sweep a statute within the reach of heightened scrutiny," Roberts wrote. Sotomayor challenged this finding in her dissent.
"Fashioning a medical-context-only exception also runs counter to decades of equal protection precedents," Sotomayor said.
She added that the Court has previously held that "every sex-based distinction does warrant intermediate scrutiny."
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Why It Matters
The legislation at the center of this case, Tennessee's Prohibition on Medical Procedures Performed on Minors Related to Sexual Identity, Senate Bill 1, was enacted in 2023. The law prohibits healthcare providers from prescribing, administering, or dispensing puberty blockers or hormones to minors. Three transgender minors, their parents and a doctor challenged the law.
The Supreme Court's ruling comes amid debates over the rights of transgender individuals under the law at both the state and federal levels.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20, declaring that sex is "not changeable" and shall refer to an individual's biological classification as male or female.
What To Know
Roberts called the plaintiff's allegations of stereotyping on the basis of sex "misplaced."
"SB1 does not exclude any individual from medical treatments on the basis of transgender status but rather removes one set of diagnoses—gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, and gender incongruence—from the range of treatable conditions," Roberts said.
Sotomayor said sex determines who has access to the medications restricted under Tennessee's law.
"Yet the majority refuses to call a spade a spade," Sotomayor said. "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."
The decision was met with criticism from legal rights and advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign. The group's president, Kelley Robinson, called the ruling a "devastating blow to transgender youth and the families who love them" in a statement sent to Newsweek.
"This Court chose to allow politicians to interfere in medical decisions that should be made by doctors, patients, and families—a cruel betrayal of the children who needed them to stand up for justice when it mattered most," Robinson said.
What People Are Saying
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent: "The Court's willingness to do so here does irrevocable damage to the Equal Protection Clause and invites legislatures to engage in discrimination by hiding blatant sex classifications in plain sight. It also authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them. Because there is no constitutional justification for that result, I dissent."
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in the Court's majority opinion: "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. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best."
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, in a statement sent to Newsweek: "As parents, advocates, and community leaders, we know that our fight doesn't end in courtrooms—it lives in our communities, our hearts, and our unwavering commitment to each other. Still, we will not be deterred."
GLAD Law Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi told Newsweek: "The Court today failed to do its job. When the political system breaks down and legislatures bow to popular hostility, the judiciary must be the Constitution's backbone. Instead, it chose to look away, abandoning both vulnerable children and the parents who love them. No parent should be forced to watch their child suffer while proven medical care sits beyond their reach because of politics."
What Happens Next
The Court's ruling affirmed the decision made by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision upholds Tennessee's law banning puberty blockers and hormones among minors.
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