The Christian Post's top 10 news stories of 2025 (part 2)
3. Supreme Court sides with state bans on gender transition procedures for minors
The United States Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in the case of United States v. Skrmetti that Tennessee could ban body-mutilating surgeries and hormone drugs for trans-identified minors.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority, being joined by justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Justice Samuel Alito concurred with the decision.
Roberts noted the legitimate medical concerns over “gender affirming care,” citing recent developments in the United Kingdom, where the government banned puberty blockers for children, except for clinical trials.
“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field. The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound,” Roberts wrote.
“The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements. Nor does it afford us license to decide them as we see best. … Having concluded it does not, we leave questions regarding its policy to the people, their elected representatives, and the democratic process.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor authored a dissenting opinion, being joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and, in part, by Justice Elena Kagan.
“Tennessee’s law expressly classifies on the basis of sex and transgender status, so the Constitution and settled precedent require the Court to subject it to intermediate scrutiny. The majority contorts logic and precedent to say otherwise,” wrote Sotomayor.
“Thus, the majority subjects a law that plainly discriminates on the basis of sex to mere rational-basis review. By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.”
Conservative groups, among them the Alliance Defending Freedom, celebrated the ruling, noting that the decision opened the door for other states to enact similar laws.
“No one has the right to harm a child,” said ADF CEO and President Kristen Waggoner in a statement. “The court’s rejection of that request is a monumental victory for children, science, and common sense. States are free to protect children from the greatest medical scandal in generations—and that’s exactly what states like Tennessee have done.”
According to the LGBT advocacy group Movement Advancement Project, 26 states and one territory ban puberty blockers and cosmetic sex-change surgeries for gender dysphoric children, while one state, Arizona, bans only the surgeries.
Michael Gryboski contributed to this report.
