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Justice Sonia Sotomayor compared the side effects of transgender medical procedures on minors and the use of an over-the-counter pain reliever during oral arguments Wednesday in United States v. Skrmetti.
“Every medical treatment has a risk, even taking aspirin,” Sotomayor said. “There will always be some percentage of the population below any one medical care it will take damage. So, the question in my mind is, are policy makers deciding if one person’s life is worth more than the millions of others who are exempt from this treatment?
SUPREME COURT WEIGHES ON STATE BAN ON TRANSGENDER “MEDICAL” FOR MINORS
Supporters of the Tennessee law outside the US Supreme Court as justices hear arguments in a case on transgender transition procedures for minors on December 4, 2024 in Washington, DC (Kevin Deitch/Getty Images)
Sotomayor’s comments came after Tennessee Solicitor General Matthew Rice defended his state’s ban on transgender medical procedures on minors, marking the first time a case involving transgender procedures has reached the Supreme Court. Rice argued that countries such as Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom have limited such interventions because of reported irreversible effects.
Justice Clarence Thomas questioned Rice on alternative approaches, such as in the West Virginia case, which Rice dismissed as speculative policymaking that fails to fully address the risks of gender transition.
Members of the U.S. Supreme Court, front from left, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Ellen Kagan, and back, from left, Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Cavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. their official portrait at the Supreme Court building on October 7, 2022 in Washington, DC (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“They can’t eliminate the risk of transients,” Rice said. “So it becomes a pure exercise in weighing the benefit against the risk. And the question of how many minors’ bodies have been permanently damaged by unproven benefits is best left to the legislature.”
The famous case, United States v. Skrmetti, focuses on Tennessee law which bans gender transition treatment for teenagers in the state. The law also targets health care providers in Tennessee who continue to provide sex-reassignment treatment to transgender minors, opening them up to fines, lawsuits and other liability.
Three judges appointed by ex president trump could play a key role in the outcome. Justices Brett Cavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett asked both sides tough questions, while Justice Neil Gorsuch remained silent throughout the lengthy hearing. Judgment is expected by July 2025.
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Transkarog and the Supreme Court building (Alexander Paul/NurPhoto via Getty Images | AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
The petitioners in the case are the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued to overturn the Tennessee law on behalf of the parents of three transgender teenagers, and a Memphis-based doctor who treats transgender patients. The Biden administration also joined the petitioners earlier this year under a federal law that allows the administration to intervene in certain cases certified by the attorney general as “of general public importance.”
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Tennessee passed its law, Senate Bill 1in March 2023. But it is only one of at least 25 US states that have banned sex reassignment of transgender minors, while more than 15 have enacted “shield” laws to protect such procedures.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
