Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2025
Abstract
In United States v. Skrmetti, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), a state law that prohibits transgender minors from accessing gender-affirming care. For the first time, the Court considered a fundamental question in civil rights law: How does the Fourteenth Amendment regard transgender people? The Court gave little guidance. It did not sort out principles for deciding when anti-transgender discrimination classifies by sex, nor whether transgender people are a suspect class. Instead, the Court held that “[i]n the medical context, the mere use of sex-based language does not sweep a statute within the reach of heightened scrutiny.” It turned a question of equality into an exercise in deference.
Disciplines
Constitutional Law | Law | Sexuality and the Law
Recommended Citation
Kate Redburn,
Skrmetti Beyond Scrutiny,
139
Harv. L. Rev.
167
(2025).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/4733