On Wednesday, all conservative justices except Justice Neil Gorsuch expressed skepticism about the Biden administration’s challenge to state bans on child gender reassignment.

Gorsuch, who written A landmark 2020 ruling that expanded sex discrimination to include gender identity and sexual orientation in the context of employment did not speak during more than two hours of oral arguments.

of tennessee lawin the heart of the United States v. scumetti The lawsuit restricts minors from receiving medical care intended to help them live as an identity “incongruent” with their gender. Biden administration claim It draws gender-based lines in medical practice in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

“A person assigned female at birth cannot receive medication to live as a man, but a person assigned male can,” Attorney General Elizabeth Preloger told the justices. (Related: Watch the Daily Caller documentary “Groomed”)

Justice Samuel Alito pressed Preloger on the government’s “exhaustive” argument that overwhelming evidence shows that puberty blockers and hormone therapy improve the well-being of young people with gender dysphoria. He pointed to the Cass Report, a British inquiry into transgender medical research published in April, which said there was “weak evidence” against providing puberty blockers to children.

“The opening brief did not mention any of these developments in Europe,” he said. “Isn’t it true that you relegated the Kass report to a footnote in your reply summary?”

Alito also asked transgender attorney Chase Strangio, who argued in court on behalf of private plaintiffs led by the American Civil Liberties Union, whether transgender identity is an “immutable” status. did. She noted that some men who identify as women later identify as men again.

Alito: The Kass report finds no evidence that gender-affirming treatments reduce suicide.

Strangio: “There is no evidence in these studies that this treatment reduces completed suicide… There are multiple studies that show a reduction in suicide rates.”

Stunning… pic.twitter.com/N2vHtJye26

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) December 4, 2024

Chief Justice John Roberts, along with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, suggested that the court should not delve into the area of ​​contentious medical debates.

“It seems like a pretty heavy yellow flag, if not a red flag, for the rest of the world, at least the countries that are litigating, to go to this court and make this whole region constitutional. On that front, we’re stopping this type of treatment because we’re concerned about the risks,” Kavanaugh said.

Tennessee Congressmen William Lamberth and Jack Johnson, who are sponsoring the bill at the center of today’s Supreme Court case, will speak outside the courtroom after oral arguments. @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/axy3SLopRC

— Katelyn Richardson (@katesrichardson) December 4, 2024

Meanwhile, three liberal justices expressed support for the government’s position, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson comparing the ban on child sex change to the ban on interracial marriage. (Related: Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson says banning child gender reassignment is “in some sense the same thing” as banning interracial marriage)

“I’m concerned that some of the fundamentals of equal protection litigation that are our foundation are being undermined,” Jackson said.

When Tennessee Attorney General Matthew Rice emphasized the irreversible harm drugs such as cross-sex hormones do to children’s bodies, Justice Sonia Sotomayor dismissed the concerns.

“Every treatment carries risks, even taking aspirin,” Sotomayor said. said Rice.

In 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson failed to provide a definition for the word “woman.”

Today, she heard oral arguments in a case that will determine whether states can make child gender reassignment illegal. pic.twitter.com/6jb9EQs15O

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 4, 2024

Rice denied that Tennessee law has no gender-based boundaries, arguing that the law makes a distinction based on medical purposes. He explained that giving testosterone to boys allows them to have “normal physical development,” but giving testosterone to girls creates a “physical condition.”

almost half Some states in the United States have passed similar laws banning gender reassignment procedures for children.

In June, documents in a separate lawsuit challenging Alabama’s ban on child gender reassignment cited evidence from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) that was cited by the Biden administration. It has become clear that medical standards in the United States have been influenced by politics and lawsuits. Concerns. Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine pressed WPATH to remove the minimum age requirement for surgery from the Standards of Care 8 guidelines.

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