U.S. Supreme Court Grants Lambda Legal's and ACLU's Request for Divided Argument in Challenge to Tennessee's Transgender Youth Health Care Ban

Court schedules oral argument for December 4, 2024; The ACLU's Chase Strangio to be the first transgender attorney to argue before the Court.

(Washington, DC October 21, 2024) The United States Supreme Court today granted the petition for divided argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti, the challenge to Tennessee's discriminatory ban on health care for transgender Tennessee youth. The Court Friday scheduled oral argument in the case for December 4, 2024.

The ruling allows Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to present arguments on behalf of their clients in the companion case, L.W. v. Skrmetti three families with transgender children and a Memphis-based doctor to be part of the record the Court will hear and consider in its ruling. Chase Strangio, Co-Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project, will be arguing on behalf of the clients, becoming the first transgender attorney to argue before the Court.

"The stakes could not be higher for our communities as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral argument in U.S. v. Skrmetti and L.W. v. Skrmetti," said Lambda Legal Chief Legal Officer Jennifer C. Pizer. "As hostile state leaders prepare to double-down on their cruel, unprecedented and discriminatory attacks on transgender youth, the Court has the opportunity and duty to apply the law fairly, which means returning medical decisions to where they rightfully belong, to parents, their children, and their doctors.

"In the weeks ahead, we will work hand-in-glove with our co-counsel and with Chase to prepare for his historic appearance before the Court. And we look forward to representing L.W., her parents, our two pseudonymous families, and Dr. Susan Lacy in their challenge to Tennessee, and, by extension, to the many other states which have decided to target this especially vulnerable group of young people and to interfere in intensely personal family medical decisions."

In April 2023, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP sued the State of Tennessee to block S.B 1 which prohibits medical providers from prescribing medical treatments to transgender youth, such as puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapies, that are exempted for minors who are not transgender. Following a decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, S.B. 1 took effect in July 2023. In June 2024, the Supreme Court granted cert. in U.S. v. Skrmetti. Since 2021, 24 states have banned hormone therapies for transgender youth, while continuing to allow them for non-transgender youth.

Find a digital version of this press statement here: U.S. Supreme Court Grants Lambda Legal's and ACLU's Request for Divided Argument in Challenge to Tennessee's Transgender Youth Health Care Ban - Lambda Legal

Read more about this case here: L.W. et al v. Skrmetti et al - Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and policy work. www.lambdalegal.org