The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled to hear oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a case challenging a Tennessee law that bans “gender-affirming care” on minors, for Wednesday, December 4.
Tennessee’s Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act was signed into law in March 2023 by Governor Bill Lee.
The law forbids 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.
“Gender-affirming care” includes puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and sex-change surgeries.
The state law was initially challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and its legal partners as L.W. v. Skrmetti before the U.S. Department of Justice also filed a legal challenge to the law, arguing it is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Supreme Court will 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.
Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice will be defending the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in L.W. v. Skrmetti in front of the Supreme Court in December.
Rice, appointed to Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s team in March, previously clerked for Judge Sandra Ikuta on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.
A decision by the Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti is likely expected by the end of June 2025 on the following question:
Whether Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB1), 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,” Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-33-103(a)(1), violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), an original sponsor of the Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act, said he was “grateful” that the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case challenging the law on December 4, adding, “It’s essential that states retain the right to legislate on issues that affect their communities, and I believe strongly in the constitutionality of our legislation.”
“Together, we will continue to prioritize the well-being of our children,” Johnson added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
