WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� on Wednesday upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors, a stunning setback to transgender rights.
The justices' 6-3 decision in a case from Tennessee effectively protects from legal challenges many efforts by President Donald Trump's Republican administration and state governments to roll back protections for transgender people. Another 26 states have laws similar to the one in Tennessee.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for a conservative majority that the law does not violate the Constitution's equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same.
鈥淭his 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,鈥� Roberts wrote. 鈥淭he Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best.鈥�
In a dissent joined by her liberal colleagues, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the majority 鈥渁bandons transgender children and their families to political whims.鈥�
The decision comes amid a range of other federal and state efforts to , including which they can join and which . In April, President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration for not complying with the government鈥檚 push to ban in girls sports.
The Republican president also has sought to block federal spending on gender-affirming medical care for those under age 19 鈥� instead only to treat young transgender people. In addition, the Supreme Court has allowed him to kick out of the military, even as court battles continue. The president also signed another order to as only male and female.
Trump's administration has also called for , not broader health measures, to treat transgender youths.
The justices acted a month after the United Kingdom鈥檚 top court delivered , ruling unanimously that the U.K. Equality Act means trans women can be excluded from some groups and single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, homeless shelters, swimming areas and medical or counseling services provided only to women.
Five years ago, that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. That decision is not affected by Wednesday鈥檚 ruling.
But the justices on Wednesday declined to apply the same sort of analysis the court used in 2020 when it found that 鈥渟ex plays an unmistakable role鈥� in employers鈥� decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. Roberts joined that opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who also was part of Wednesday's majority.
Tennessee Attorney General on social media called the ruling a 鈥淟andmark VICTORY for Tennessee at SCOTUS in defense of America鈥檚 children!鈥�
There are about 300,000 people between the ages of 13 and 17 and 1.3 million adults who identify as transgender in the United States, according to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. The Williams Institute is a think tank that researches sexual orientation and gender identity demographics to inform laws and public policy decisions.
When the case was argued in December, then-President Joe Biden's Democratic administration and families of transgender adolescents had called on the high court to strike down the Tennessee ban as unlawful sex discrimination and protect the constitutional rights of vulnerable Americans.
They argued that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Tennessee鈥檚 law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but it allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes.
Soon after Trump took office, the Justice Department told the court that its position had changed.
A major issue in the case was the appropriate level of scrutiny courts should apply to such laws.
The lowest level is known as rational basis review, and almost every law looked at that way is ultimately upheld. Indeed, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati that allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced held that lawmakers acted rationally to regulate medical procedures, well within their authority.
The appeals court reversed a trial court that employed a higher level of review, heightened scrutiny, which applies in cases of sex discrimination. Under this more searching examination, the state must identify an important objective and show that the law helps accomplish it.
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Mark Sherman, The Associated Press
