DOJ drops lawsuit over ban on transgender procedures for minors
The U.S.Justice department, under the Trump administration, has dropped a Biden-era lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s law banning transgender medical procedures for minors, following the Supreme Court’s recent 6-3 ruling upholding the ban. The law prohibits treatments such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries for gender dysphoria in individuals under 18. The Biden DOJ had argued the law violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, but the Supreme court disagreed. The Trump DOJ filed a voluntary dismissal with prejudice, signaling it will no longer challenge such state laws and will instead defend efforts to ban what it describes as harmful procedures on minors. Additionally, the Trump administration is supporting restrictions on transgender athletes in women’s sports, with related cases set to be heard by the Supreme Court in the upcoming term.
Trump DOJ drops Biden-era lawsuit over ban on transgender procedures for minors
The Justice Department announced Monday that it dropped its lawsuit over a law banning transgender procedures for minors, a month after the Supreme Court upheld the ban.
The Supreme Court ruled on the lawsuit last month, with a 6-3 majority upholding Tennessee’s law prohibiting the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures to treat gender dysphoria and related conditions in minors. The majority of justices rejected the argument from activists and the Biden DOJ that Tennessee’s Senate Bill 1 violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
The Justice Department filed a notice to voluntarily dismiss the intervention, which was filed by the Biden administration in April 2023, with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday that the DOJ would “no longer be in the business of attacking laws like Tennessee’s that protect children.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the Trump DOJ will “defend states that seek to ban these barbaric practices,” in a change from the Biden DOJ.
“The United States today undid one of the injustices the Biden administration inflicted upon the country by dismissing a lawsuit against a Tennessee law that protects minors from invasive and mutilating procedures,” Dhillon said Monday.
“The Justice Department will continue to fight to protect the health and welfare of our children and defend states that seek to ban these barbaric practices,” she added.
The June decision in United States v. Skrmetti was a key victory for the Trump administration’s fight against transgender procedures for minors, as part of its efforts to undo Biden-era orders on those and other controversial social matters.
SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CHALLENGES TO BANS ON TRANSGENDER ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS
Another key effort by the Trump administration has been seeking to ban biological males from women’s sports, a matter which will be brought before the Supreme Court in two cases in the upcoming term.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in Little v. Hecox and B.P.J. v. West Virginia State Board of Education in the next term, which begins in October and is expected to end with final opinions in June 2026. The questions presented to the justices in those cases pertain to whether bans on biological males in women’s sports violate the 14th Amendment and Title IX.
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