Yesterday the Supreme Court granted certiorari in United States v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee's SB1, a law prohibiting puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and sex-transition surgeries for minors suffering from gender dysphoria. SB1 is one of several state laws recently adopted imposing such limitations on such care for minors, and Skrmetti is one of several cases involving challenges to such laws.
Tennessee's law was initially challenged on both Equal Protection and Due Process grounds. A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit initially stayed and then reversed a preliminary injunction against the law. In opinions by Chief Judge Sutton, the court concluded that the challengers were unlikely to succeed on either their Equal Protection or Due Process claims.
Both the federal government and individual plaintiffs filed petitions for certiorari in Skrmetti. Yesterday the Court only granted the federal government's petition. One reason might be that the brief filed by the Solicitor General only submitted one issue—Equal Protection—to the justices. The SG did not ask the justices to consider the substantive dur process claim that Tennessee's SB1 infringed upon fundamental liberties, such as the right of parents to control the upbringing of and make medical decisions for their children.
