Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti filed a response brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday defending a Tennessee law that bans “gender-affirming care” on minors – including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex-change surgeries.
In March 2023, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed SB1 titled, ‘The Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act” into law, forbidding healthcare providers from performing or administering to underage children medical procedures or treatments for the purposes of enabling the child to identify with the opposite gender.
.@AGTennessee Skrmetti's full statement on today's filed response at the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Skrmetti:
"The people of Tennessee, through their elected representatives, took measured action with Senate Bill 1 to protect kids from irreversible, unproven medical… pic.twitter.com/0XVZV5tc8E
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) October 8, 2024
The state law was soon challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its legal partners.
In June, the Supreme Court agreed to review a previous ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in September, which reversed a district court’s preliminary injunction in L.W. v. Skrmetti and allowed the law to remain in effect.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which allowed the law to take effect, was appealed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which argues that the state law is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
In the 70-page brief filed on Tuesday, Skrmetti argued that the state law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause, arguing that the Clause “protects against discriminatory classifications, and SB1 contains none.”
The brief reads:
SB1 includes no sex classification. It draws a line between minors seeking drugs for gender transition and minors seeking drugs for other medical purposes. And boys and girls fall on both sides of that line…
Nor should this Court break new ground by striking down SB1 on a transgender-discrimination theory. SB1 does not classify based on transgender status.
Skrmetti also argued in the brief that states, which licensed doctors and medical professionals reserve the right to regulate medical practices, including by exercising their authority to restrict the administration of drugs:
Through SB1, Tennessee lawfully exercised its power to regulate medicine by protecting minors from risky, unproven gender-transition interventions. It is not unconstitutional discrimination to say that drugs can be prescribed for one reason but not another. Weighing risks and benefits, States (and the federal government) draw age- and use-based distinctions for drugs all the time.
“The Constitution does not prevent the States from regulating the practice of medicine where hot-button social issues are concerned,” Skrmetti said in a statement upon filing Tuesday’s brief.
“People who disagree with restrictions on irreversible pediatric procedures for gender transition are free to advocate for change through state elections,” Skrmetti added.
The case examining Tennessee’s SB1 is expected to be argued during the Supreme Court’s current term, which began on Monday. A decision by the court is likely expected by the end of June 2025.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
