U.S. Supreme Court upholds Tennessee ban on transgender medical treatments

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Tennessee law prohibiting specific transgender medical treatments for adolescents in the state is not discriminatory, thereby upholding the law. Andrew Craft is talking about the ruling with Zack Smith, Senior Legal Fellow and Manager of the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Program in the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

At issue in the case, United States v. Skrmetti, was whether Tennessee's Senate Bill 1, which "prohibits all medical treatments intended to allow 'a minor to 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,'" violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the law in question does not warrant heightened scrutiny, "because it does not classify on any bases that warrant heightened review."

"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 Chief Justice said. "The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound."

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