Supreme Court to hear landmark case on trans healthcare – here’s everything you need to know

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear a legal challenge to a Tennessee ban on trans healthcare – in a case named US v Skrmetti.

The bill, approved by state lawmakers last year, mimics similar laws in other states, with civil penalties for any adult who aids a minor to receive getting out-of-state gender-affirming care without their parent’s consent.

Several families, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued Tennessee to prevent the bill passing into law.

The case will be heard by the country’s top court during the Supreme Court’s new nin-month term, which began on Monday (7 October).

The ACLU’s deputy director for trans justice, Chase Strangio, said: “The future of countless transgender youth in this and future generations rests on this court adhering to the facts, the constitution and its own modern precedent.

“These bans represent a dangerous and discriminatory affront to the well-being of transgender youth across the country and their constitutional right to equal protection under the law. They are the result of an openly political effort to wage war on a marginalised group and our most fundamental freedoms.”

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to take the case, 64 trans adults, including actor Elliot Page, filed a brief sharing their own experiences.

What is the Supreme Court case US v Skrmetti?

Following the passing of the bill in the state house of representatives and senate, the ACLU, and Lambda Legal, aided by lawyers from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, sued Tennessee.

The pushback was, to a large degree, over the bill’s aim to outlaw medical care for trans youngsters up to the age of 18, while those currently receiving gender-affirming care would have been forced to end it by July 2023.

Samantha Williams, from Nashville, who brought the case on behalf of her trans 15-year-old daughter, said it was “incredibly painful” to watch her child suffer as a consequence of the proposed legislation.

“We have a confident, happy daughter now, who is free to be herself and she is thriving,” Williams said. “I am so afraid of what this law will mean for her.”

In June 2023, a federal judge blocked the bill from going forward. But a federal appeal court overturned that decision last September, allowing the bill to go into effect, a decision the ACLU described as “beyond disappointing.”

In June this year, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. While the outcome will specifically affect the Tennessee bill, it is likely to set a legal precedent for similar laws in other states.

Data collected and shared by the ACLU found that at least 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in the US since the beginning of the year, with 112 of those being healthcare restrictions.

Lambda Legal senior lawyer Tara Borelli said: “This court has historically rejected efforts to uphold discriminatory laws. Without similar action here, these punitive, categorical bans on the provision of gender-affirming care will continue to wreak havoc on the lives of transgender youth and their families.”