Supreme Court Appears Poised To Uphold Tennessee Law Protecting Kids From Trans Procedures

The Supreme Court seems poised to reject a challenge from the Biden administration and the ACLU to Tennessee’s law shielding minors from irreversible transgender procedures, according to comments made by justices during oral arguments on Wednesday.

Throughout oral arguments on Wednesday morning, the conservative justices were skeptical of arguments from U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar and the ACLU, who argued that Tennessee’s law violated the 14th Amendment. The law prevents doctors from giving children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which come with a variety of long-term health risks.

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito strongly pushed back against Prelogar and the ACLU, with Alito pointing to data contradicting claims that transgender procedures were necessary to keep kids from committing suicide. Alito also pointed to recent decisions in the United Kingdom to restrict transgender procedures for minors.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts also seemed hesitant to weigh in against Tennessee.

“It strikes me as a pretty heavy yellow light, if not red light, for this court to come in, the nine of us, and to constitutionalize the whole area, when the rest of the world, or at least the people who the countries that have been at the forefront of this, are pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment,” Kavanaugh said.

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Both Kavanaugh and Roberts said that it seemed like it might be best to leave the issue to the states.

“If the Constitution doesn’t take sides, if there’s strong, forceful, scientific policy arguments on both sides in a situation like this, why isn’t it best to leave it to the democratic process?” Kavanaugh asked.

“We’re not the best situated to address issues like that,” Roberts said. “Doesn’t that make a stronger case for us to leave those determinations to the legislative bodies rather than try to determine them for ourselves?”

The liberal justices on the court, including Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, both seemed like they would move to strike down Tennessee’s law. Jackson tried to compare the law to old laws that prevented interracial marriage.

Headlines from the legacy media predicted that the law would be upheld. NBC News wrote, “Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to Tennessee ban on transgender youth treatments,” while CNN wrote, “During arguments, SCOTUS conservative majority appears ready to endorse Tennessee law.”