WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to an appeal by the Biden administration to block state bans on gender-affirming care.
The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have passed a variety of restrictions on transgender health care, participation in school sports, restroom use and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have expanded protections for transgender people, including a new federal regulation that aims to protect transgender students.
The case before the Supreme Court concerns a Tennessee law that restricts puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed laws in Tennessee and Kentucky to take effect after they were blocked by lower courts. (The Supreme Court did not hear a separate appeal from Kentucky.)
“Without this Court’s swift intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, unsure if and where they can access needed medical care,” attorneys for Tennessee’s transgender teens told the justices.
Actor Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy,” was among 57 transgender people who joined a legal filing in support of the Supreme Court’s review.
The debates will take place in the autumn.
Last week, South Carolina became the 25th state to pass a law limiting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even though such treatments have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.
Most state restrictions require lawsuits. The justices had previously allowed Idaho to enforce the restrictions generally after they were blocked by lower courts.
At least 24 states have laws banning transgender women and girls from participating in certain women’s or girls’ sports competitions. At least eleven states have passed laws banning transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s restrooms in public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.
The nation’s highest court has rarely addressed transgender issues. In 2020, the justices ruled that a groundbreaking civil rights law protects gays, lesbians and transgender people from discrimination in the labor market.
In 2016, the court had agreed to hear the case of a transgender student, backed by the Obama administration, who was barred from using the boys’ restroom at his high school in Virginia. But the court dropped the case after a guideline advising schools to allow students to use the restroom of their chosen gender, and not biological birth, was struck down in the early months of the Trump administration. The directive had been a key part of an appeals court ruling in favor of student Gavin Grimm.
In 2021, the justices declined to get involved in Grimm’s case after the appeals court ruled in his favor again. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted at the time that they would have accepted the school board’s appeal.
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