Democrats, major medical groups denounce Supreme Court’s gender-affirming care ruling
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Doctors, Dems denounce Supreme Court transgender care ruling
Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld a Tennessee ban on gender-transition care for minors. It was a decision heralded by Republicans, who rode to power in Washington last year in part on campaigns against transgender rights, and denounced by Democrats. Doctors warned that “denying patients access to this care not only undermines their health and safety, it robs them of basic human dignity” Chief Justice John Roberts writes for a conservative majority the law does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. It comes as President Donald Trump is waging war on transgender Americans from the White House, including gutting funding for a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth through the 988 service If you or someone you know needs help, The Trevor Project is available 24/7 via online chat at thetrevorproject.org/get-help/, by phone at 1-866-488-7386 and via text at 678678. The national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
WASHINGTON — In what was viewed as a major setback to transgender rights in the United States, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld a Tennessee ban on gender-transition care for minors Wednesday.
It was a decision heralded by Republicans, who rode to power in Washington last year in part on campaigns against transgender rights, and denounced by Democrats. But beyond the partisanship of the polarizing and politicized issue of whether transgender minors should have access to lifesaving medical care, doctors warned that “denying patients access to this care not only undermines their health and safety, it robs them of basic human dignity.”
What You Need To Know In what was viewed as a major setback to transgender rights in the United States, the Supreme Court’s six-seat conservative majority upheld a Tennessee ban on gender transition care for transgender minors on Wednesday It was a decision heralded by Republicans, who rode to power in Washington last year in part on campaigns against transgender rights, and denounced by Democrats But beyond the partisanship of the polarizing and politicized issue of whether transgender minors should have access to life-saving medical care, doctors warned that “denying patients access to this care not only undermines their health and safety, it robs them of basic human dignity” Chief Justice John Roberts writes for a conservative majority the law does not violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same The Supreme Court’s decision comes as President Donald Trump is waging war on transgender Americans from the White House, including gutting funding for a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth through the 988 service If you or someone you know needs help, The Trevor Project — an organization dedicated to helping LGBTQ+ youth — is available via online chat at thetrevorproject.org/get-help/, by phone at 1-866-488-7386 and via text at 678678
“To be clear—regardless of today’s legal ruling—the science still supports gender-affirming care, children will still need it. Nothing in this decision explicitly bans such care,” the American Academy of Pediatrics’ president, Dr. Susan J. Kressly, said in a statement. “Gender-affirming care is medically necessary for treating gender dysphoria and is backed by decades of peer-reviewed research, clinical experience, and scientific consensus.”
“Too often mischaracterized as exclusively involving surgery and hormones, this care is provided thoughtfully and with the involvement of multidisciplinary teams of physicians, mental health professionals, families, and most importantly, young people themselves,” Kressly continued.
The leader of the nation’s preeminent organization of pediatricians, pediatric specialists and pediatric surgeons argued that “the ruling also sets a dangerous precedent for legislative interference in the practice of medicine and the patient-physician relationship that is at the core of our health system.”
LGBTQ+ legal advocates resoundingly denounced the decision as an attack on civil rights and the health and wellbeing of children.
“When the political system breaks down and legislatures bow to popular hostility, the judiciary must be the Constitution’s backbone,” said Jennifer Levi, the senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD Law. “Instead, it chose to look away, abandoning both vulnerable children and the parents who love them. No parent should be forced to watch their child suffer while proven medical care sits beyond their reach because of politics.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer framed the Supreme Court’s ruling as part of “Republicans’ cruel crusade against trans kids” to distract from legislative efforts to strip “healthcare away from millions of Americans.” The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, Illinois’ Dick Durbin, pledged to “double down on my fight for trans kids to thrive.”
“This is about health care,” Durbin said. “Once again, extremist politicians and judges are stepping into the doctor’s office and usurping the decision-making that should be left to families and doctors.”
But Republicans who championed the law and others like it in more than half of states have insisted doctors and those advocating in defense of access to transgender health care are wrong and putting children at risk, necessitating government intervention in the patient-doctor relationship and proposing legal consequences for medical professionals who provide such care.
“I commend the Supreme Court for upholding a state’s right to protect kids from barbaric transgender procedures,” Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said. “These procedures have no basis in science. The ‘doctors’ and Democratic activists who are pushing them should face massive liability.”
The mischaracterization of gender-transition care for minors as solely or predominantly surgical operations is one that is widely held and promoted by Republicans — Utah Sen. Mike Lee described the court’s decision Wednesday as “protecting kids from surgical mutilation” and Attorney General Pam Bondi said it would protect children from “genital mutilation.” But a Harvard public health study from last year found that teens aged 15 to 17 receive gender-transition surgery at a rate of 2.1 per 100,000 people and 97% of those surgeries are not for transgender youths, but for cisgender male minors seeking breast reductions. The vast majority of transgender people, if they ever seek surgery as part of their gender-transition care, do so as adults.
Instead, hormone treatments that are available to transgender minors after consultations with medical professionals have been shown in scientific studies to broadly reduce suicidality and mental health struggles, including substance abuse, compared to transgender people who pursue hormone treatments as adults or not at all. Transgender people are far more likely than the general population to attempt suicide and those rates increased among transgender teenagers in recent years living in states that passed anti-transgender laws.
The Supreme Court’s decision comes as President Donald Trump is waging war from the White House on transgender Americans, including gutting funding for a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth through the 988 service. In May, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s ban on transgender Americans from serving in the military as the Pentagon has ordered commanders to identify transgender troops in their units and send them for medical checks to begin the process of forcing thousands of transgender service members out of the military.
Trump has also signed executive orders that attempted to restrict access to gender-transition care to people under age 19, signed an executive order stating the federal government recognizes two genders, threatened federal funding to public schools that instruct on “gender ideology” and sought to bar transgender women athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s school sports.
The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the conservative majority’s decision on Wednesday. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed by President Barack Obama, wrote that the court’s decision “abandons transgender children and their families to political whims.”
“In sadness, I dissent,” Sotomayor wrote, later concluding that the ruling “authorizes, without second thought, untold harm to transgender children and the parents and families who love them.”
Tennessee can ban gender transition care for minors, Supreme Court says
Tennessee can ban gender transition care for minors, Supreme Court says. Court’s decision allows the law in Tennessee and has implications for the 23 other states that have banned similar treatments.
The court’s decision allows the law in Tennessee and has implications for the 23 other states that have banned similar treatments in recent years.
Updated June 18, 2025 at 2:02 p.m. EDT today at 2:02 p.m. EDT
Supreme Court upholds Tennessee’s youth transgender care ban
Tennessee’s Republican Attorney General says voters’ “common sense” prevailed over “judicial activism.” The high court rejected a challenge mounted by the Biden administration. The law prohibits health care providers from administering puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender minors. It also bans gender-transition surgeries for minors, though that provision was not at issue before the high court. The ruling stands to impact similar laws passed in roughly half the country.. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the more exacting standard raises questions about whether Tennessee’S law would survive. The state insisted the law distinguishes based on a treatment’’s medical purpose, not sex, and the court should defer to the Legislature’’ The ruling was supported by 24 Republican state attorneys general, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, various medical organizations and Democratic attorneys general from 19 states, D.C., and Washington.. The decision was made on a 6-3 vote, with three Democratic-appointed justices dissenting.
Rejecting a challenge mounted by the Biden administration, the high court ruled Tennessee’s law does not amount to sex discrimination that requires a higher level of constitutional scrutiny, removing a key line of attack that LGBTQ rights advocates have used to try to topple similar laws.
“Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the court’s six Republican-appointed justices.
The court’s three Democratic-appointed justices dissented, saying they would’ve held the law to heightened scrutiny.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the more exacting standard raises questions about whether Tennessee’s law would survive. She read her dissent aloud from the bench, which the justices reserve for emphasizing their strong disagreements with a case.
“By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent,” Sotomayor wrote, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Tennessee’s law, S.B. 1, prohibits health care providers from administering puberty blockers or hormone therapy to transgender minors when the medications are prescribed to help them transition. The law, which Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed in 2023, also bans gender-transition surgeries for minors, though that provision was not at issue before the high court. Providers who violate the law can face $25,000 civil fines for violations.
Three Tennessee families and a doctor originally sued, and the Biden administration joined them, asserting the law discriminated based on sex in violation of the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.
The high court rejected that notion, instead siding with Tennessee. The state insisted the law distinguishes based on a treatment’s medical purpose, not sex, and the court should defer to the Legislature’s judgment about regulating medicine for children.
“This case carries a simple lesson: In politically contentious debates over matters shrouded in scientific uncertainty, courts should not assume that self-described experts are correct,” Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court’s leading conservatives, wrote in a separate, concurring opinion.
Tennessee’s Republican Attorney General, Jonathan Skrmetti celebrated the court’s ruling Wednesday, saying voters’ “common sense” prevailed over “judicial activism.”
“A bipartisan supermajority of Tennessee’s elected representatives carefully considered the evidence and voted to protect kids from irreversible decisions they cannot yet fully understand,” Skrmetti wrote in a statement following the ruling.
“The rapid and unexplained rise in the number of kids seeking these life-altering interventions, despite the lack of supporting evidence, calls for careful scrutiny from our elected leaders,” he continued later. “This victory transcends politics. It’s about real Tennessee kids facing real struggles. Families across our state and our nation deserve solutions based on science, not ideology.”
He added, “Today’s landmark decision recognizes that the Constitution lets us fulfill society’s highest calling—protecting our kids.”
Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said Tuesday’s ruling “is a devastating loss for transgender people, our families, and everyone who cares about the Constitution.”
“Though this is a painful setback, it does not mean that transgender people and our allies are left with no options to defend our freedom, our health care, or our lives,” said Strangio, who, during oral arguments in December, became the first openly transgender person to argue before the Supreme Court. “The Court left undisturbed Supreme Court and lower court precedent that other examples of discrimination against transgender people are unlawful. We are as determined as ever to fight for the dignity and equality of every transgender person and we will continue to do so with defiant strength, a restless resolve, and a lasting commitment to our families, our communities, and the freedom we all deserve.”
The Biden administration was backed by various medical organizations and LGBTQ rights groups, Democratic attorneys general from 19 states and Washington, D.C., actor Elliot Page, roughly 160 Democratic members of Congress and the American Bar Association.
Tennessee’s defense was supported by 24 Republican state attorneys general, various Republican governors, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a group of “detransitioners” — individuals who once, but no longer, identified as transgender — and conservative organizations like Advancing American Freedom, founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
Trump’s Justice Department abandoned the Biden administration’s challenge to the state’s law upon taking office. But the new administration urged the Supreme Court to still decide the case, warning the weighty issue would otherwise quickly return to the justices.
Wednesday’s decision comes as the White House seeks to restrict access to gender-affirming treatments more broadly.
Trump, who signed an executive order in February to end federal support for transition-related care for minors, has also called for federal legislation to that effect, instructing Congress at a joint address in March to pass a bill “permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped in the wrong body.”
In May, the Department of Health and Human Services broke with major professional medical organizations, which have said gender-affirming care for trans youths and adults is medically necessary, in an unsigned report that declared such interventions lack scientific evidence.
Updated at 11:38 a.m. EDT
Americans don’t see Supreme Court as politically neutral, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
Just 20% of respondents to the poll agreed that the Supreme Court is politically neutral. 67% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats view court favorably. The justices are expected to issue rulings in major cases in the coming weeks. The two-day poll, which closed on Thursday, was based on responses from 1,136 U.S. adults. The court has issued major rulings in recent years including in cases rolling back abortion rights, expanding gun rights, recognizing presidential immunity from prosecution for official acts, and curbing the power of federal agencies. It has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Republican President Donald Trump in his first term in office. The poll found strong support for such laws among all respondents, 70% were in support and 14% opposed, while among Democrats, 18% supported and 7% opposed. The Reuters/Ipsos poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points and was conducted June 14-15.
Summary 20% agree Supreme Court is neutral while 58% disagree
67% of Republicans, 26% of Democrats view court favorably
Poll finds Americans divided on transgender care laws
Poll respondents oppose Trump on birthright citizenship
WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – Americans are divided on major issues that the U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on in the coming weeks, but most agree on one thing – neither Republicans nor Democrats see the nation’s top judicial body as politically neutral, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Just 20% of respondents to the poll agreed that the Supreme Court is politically neutral while 58% disagreed and the rest either said they did not know or did not respond. Among people who described themselves as Democrats, only 10% agreed it was politically neutral and 74% disagreed, while among Republicans 29% agreed and 54% disagreed.
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The two-day poll, which closed on Thursday, was based on responses from 1,136 U.S. adults. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The court has issued major rulings in recent years including in cases rolling back abortion rights, expanding gun rights, recognizing presidential immunity from prosecution for official acts, rejecting race-conscious collegiate admissions and curbing the power of federal agencies. Its 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Republican President Donald Trump in his first term in office.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 44% of respondents expressed a favorable view of the court, including 67% of Republicans and 26% of Democrats.
The Supreme Court’s popularity has declined since its June 2022 decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide. Some 57% of respondents in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted at the end of 2021 expressed a favorable opinion of the court. By the end of June 2022, that figure had fallen to 43%.
The justices are expected to issue rulings in major cases in the coming weeks as they near the end of their current term that began in October. Among these cases are one on the legality of Tennessee’s Republican-backed law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors and one involving Trump’s executive order restricting automatic birthright citizenship , part of his hardline approach to immigration.
Some 53% of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they supported “laws that prevent transgender children under the age of 18 from getting medical treatment related to gender identity and gender transitioning.” Another 28% opposed such laws and the rest were unsure or did not answer the question.
Among Republicans, support for such laws was at 57% and opposition at 28%, while among Democrats support was at 23% and opposition at 54%.
Tracking Trump 2.0
The Tennessee law prohibits medical treatments such as puberty blockers and hormones for transgender minors. During December 4 arguments in the case, the court’s conservative justices signaled their willingness to uphold the law. The eventual ruling could affect other state laws targeting transgender people.
After Trump signed his birthright citizenship directive in January, 22 states as well as immigrant rights advocates and pregnant immigrants sued, arguing that it was a violation of citizenship language in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
In the Reuters/Ipsos poll, only 24% of all respondents supported ending birthright citizenship and 52% opposed it. Among Democrats, 5% supported ending it, with 84% opposed. Among Republicans, 43% supported ending it, with 24% opposed. The rest said they were unsure or did not respond to the question.
The court also by the end of this month is expected to issue a ruling on the legality of a Texas law that requires people to verify the age online before accessing pornographic websites.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll found strong support for such laws. Among all respondents, 70% were in support and 14% opposed. Among Democrats, 65% supported and 18% opposed, while among Republicans 80% supported and 7% opposed.
During January 15 arguments in the case, the justices seemed to agree that states can try to keep adult material from minors but also voiced concern over burdens imposed on adults to view constitutionally protected material.
Reporting by John Kruzel, Andrew Goudsward and Jason Lange in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham
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