More than 160 Democrats urge Supreme Court to support transgender people’s rights to health care

More than 160 members of Congress have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of defending transgender rights in America. The case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, set to be heard this fall, will determine the legality of Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare fortransgender minors. This marks the first time the high court will address the constitutionality of such a ban, and its decision could have far-reaching implications for transgender rights across the United States.

A coalition of Democratic lawmakers led by Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, and Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley filed an amicus brief Tuesday urging the Supreme Court to strike down SB1. The brief, joined by 11 senators and 153 representatives, argues that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The brief highlights SB1’s discriminatory nature, stating that it singles out transgender youth for unequal treatment and is not based on sound medical evidence or practice.

“Decisions about healthcare belong to patients, their doctors, and their families—not politicians,” Pocan said. “The law at issue in this case is motivated by an animus towards the trans community and is part of a cruel, coordinated attack on trans rights.”

The case before the Supreme Court seeks a review of a decision made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Initially, a district court judge in Tennessee had granted a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking the enforcement of Senate Bill 1 while legal challenges were ongoing. However, last September, a three-judge panel from the Sixth Circuit lifted this injunction, allowing Tennessee to enforce the ban. The plaintiffs in U.S. v. Skrmetti are now asking the Supreme Court to review the Sixth Circuit’s decision to lift the injunction, arguing that it undermines constitutional protections and unlawfully discriminates against transgender people.

The brief points out that every major medical association in the United States, representing over 1.3 million doctors, agrees that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, and medically necessary for many transgender individuals experiencing gender dysphoria. The brief argues that Tennessee’s SB1, which bans all medical treatments intended to allow a minor to identify with a gender different from their sex assigned at birth, contradicts established medical standards and intrudes on individual medical decisions.

The debate over gender-affirming care affects a significant number of young people. According to The Williams Institute, there are more than 300,000 high school-aged transgender youth in the United States today, many of whom require gender-affirming care. About 39.4 percent or 118,300 trans youth aged 13-17 live in the 26 states that have passed bans on gender-affirming care.

The brief also emphasizes the deeply troubling role that animosity toward transgender people has played in the enactment of state legislation like SB1. It notes that many laws targeting transgender individuals have been driven by misinformation and prejudice rather than sound medical evidence. The brief urges the justices to be skeptical of legislation that bans safe and effective therapies that align with the standard of care and to examine the discriminatory intent behind such laws carefully.

Markey is a vocal critic of these legislative efforts, which he views as driven by a “special type of cruelty” targeting vulnerable children. “For years, far-right Republicans have been leading constant, relentless, and escalating attacks on transgender Americans,” Markey said in a statement. “Their age-old, discriminatory playbook now threatens access to lifesaving, gender-affirming care for more than 100,000 transgender and nonbinary children living in states with these bans if the Supreme Court upholds laws like Tennessee’s.”

David Stacy, vice president of Government Affairs for the Human Rights Campaign, underscored the stakes of the case. “Thank you to the many Members of Congress for standing with transgender and non-binary youth across our country in asking the Supreme Court to find bans on life-saving gender-affirming care to be unconstitutional,” Stacy said. “The government should not be able to interfere in decisions that are best made between families and doctors, particularly when that care is necessary and best practice. These bans are dangerous, animated purely by anti-transgender bias, and have forced families to make heartbreaking decisions to support their children.”