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The US Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over whether a Tennessee state-wide ban on gender care for minors violates the US Constitution’s equal protection clause.
The court’s decision, which is expected to come next year, could have implications across the 26 states with similar laws.
The plaintiffs’ case has been backed by the Biden administration, and Department of Justice lawyers have argued that limiting access to gender care is a form of sex discrimination. It remains unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will pull support for the case, or even change positions to argue in favor of the ban.
During the first Trump administration, the Justice Department changed the government position in four major cases, including on labor rights and voting rolls. “The reversals were abrupt and appeared strikingly at odds with institutional norms,” a former deputy solicitor general wrote. The Biden administration also changed the government’s legal position in five cases.
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While some conservative justices appeared skeptical of the government’s case, Justice Neil Gorsuch, a conservative who has previously sided with arguments in an equal protections case four years ago that expanded transgender rights, remained silent during arguments Wednesday.
The first Trump administration changed the government position in four major cases. “The reversals were abrupt and appeared strikingly at odds with institutional norms,” a former deputy solicitor general wrote. The Biden administration also changed legal positions five times.