The Supreme Court’s ruling this week upholding the Tennessee ban on transgender medical procedures for minors is rapidly transforming legal battles across the country, handing state lawmakers a sweeping win and signaling a new judicial standard that restricts the reach of gender identity claims under the Constitution.
In United States v. Skrmetti, the justices ruled in a 6–3 decision handed down Wednesday that Tennessee’s Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act — which bans the use of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and surgeries intended to help minors identify as the opposite sex — does not violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Rejecting the Biden administration’s arguments, the high court applied the lower “rational basis” test, affirming that states have broad authority to regulate experimental medical procedures.
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