Tennessee Asks SCOTUS To Uphold Ban On Trans Surgeries For Minors Amid DOJ Challenge

Tennessee asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to uphold its policy shielding minors from irreversible transgender procedures as the Biden administration seeks to have the law ruled unconstitutional. 

In a 58-page filing, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti argued that the state’s law prohibiting doctors from performing transgender surgeries as well as administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors should be upheld as constitutional. The Justice Department has asked the court to block the law, saying it violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. 

Skrmetti said in his filing that the DOJ was attempting to “short-circuit” Tennessee’s democratic right to make laws on public health. 

“The people of Tennessee, through their elected representatives, took measured action with Senate Bill 1 to protect kids from irreversible, unproven medical procedures,” Skrmetti said. “Lawmakers recognized that there is little to no credible evidence to justify the serious risks these procedures present to youth and joined a growing number of European countries in restricting their use on minors with gender-identity issues.” 

In addition to the DOJ, the law was challenged by the ACLU and several transgender-identifying teenagers seeking to block enforcement. A federal judge temporarily blocked most of the law before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it in September 2023. 

Skrmetti responded to claims of discrimination by saying that the law is focused on age and use restrictions, not sex. He also pointed to the negative health outcomes that have been associated with transgender procedures for children. 

Puberty blockers can affect bone growth and density and cause sexual dysfunction, voice damage, and infertility, among other issues. Cross-sex hormones can cause infertility, deadly blood clots, heart attacks, increased cancer risks of the breasts and ovaries, and liver dysfunction.

Skrmetti also discussed how many European countries have walked back approval of transgender interventions on children. 

“Many doctors, States, and countries share Tennessee’s view on gender-transition interventions for minors; the federal government and others do not,” he wrote. 

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Tennessee’s ban on transgender procedures on minors was signed into law by Republican Governor Bill Lee in March 2023. 

The law was passed just months after Daily Wire host Matt Walsh released an investigation showing staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville discussing how transgender surgeries “make a lot of money.” Skrmetti referenced the investigation in his filing, saying that “lawmakers examined this live medical dispute” after media reports flagged VUMC’s activities. 

The Supreme Court will likely hear oral arguments in the case in December.