Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said he feels “really good” about the arguments filed Wednesday before the Supreme Court in a case about transgender treatment.
The landmark case, United States v. Skrmetti, questions whether a Tennessee law passed last year violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB1) prohibits all medical treatments intended to “enable a minor to identify with, or live as, a perceived identity inconsistent with the minor’s gender” or to “resolve perceived inconvenience or distress resulting from a discrepancy between the minor’s gender and the claimed identity”.
A transgender rights advocate participates in a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in a case involving the health rights of transgender people on December 4, 2024 in Washington, DC (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“We were thrilled to present a strong case Tennessee law. It is a fact-based law. It was a bipartisan majority of the Tennessee Legislature that passed this,” Skrmetti said Wednesday on “The Ingraham Angle.”
Dr. Jared Ross, a senior fellow at the medical advocacy group Do No Harm, argued that there is no consensus on allowing minors to use hormone therapy and puberty blockers or undergo gender reassignment surgery.
COURT CONFIRMS RED STATE BAN ON TRANSOCHERIES AND TREATMENTS FOR MINORS
Activists for and against trans rights protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court before the start of the United States v. Skrmetti case on Wednesday, December 4, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“There is no consensus domestically, as we see groups like the American Society of Plastic Surgeons speaking out against these practices. And internationally there is no consensus,” Ross said on “The Ingraham Angle.” “We’ve seen Britain go back on this and ban it. Finland, Sweden (and) Belgium too. So there’s no consensus here.”
“In some cases it is the parents who motivate this. In some cases, parents are misled by the medical establishment. They have children with underlying mental health conditions, anxiety, depression, autism. And they are told that if they simply hand over their child, everything will be fine. And we know from the data that it is clearly not the casethat these kids continue to struggle and their struggles are getting worse,” he continued.
Detransitioner and activist Chloe Cole outside the Supreme Court building during oral arguments in the Skrmetti vs. U.S. case on December 4, 2024. (Fox News digital)
United States v. Skrmetti was brought by three transgender youth, their families and a Memphis doctor who are fighting the Tennessean ban on hormone therapypuberty blockers and gender surgery amount to discrimination on the basis of sex, thus violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Tennessee, said in a press release that the Supreme Court has an opportunity to “affirm the essential freedom and equality of all people before the law – including trans youth and their families.”
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“Every day, this law causes more pain, injustice and discrimination for Tennessee families and prevents them from getting the medical care they need,” he continued. “We ask the Supreme Court to commit to fulfilling the promises of the United States Constitution for all people by ending state-sanctioned discrimination against transgender people and their families in Tennessee.
