On its face, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear a challenge by the Biden administration to Tennessee’s ban on transition care for transgender minors looks like the kind of case that the high court is meant to resolve.
Different lower federal courts have reached differing conclusions about similar laws—sometimes allowing the bans and sometimes overturning them—and resolving a split among the circuit court of appeals is one reason why certiorari is granted. Indeed, to some legal experts it was all but pre-ordained: “The Supreme Court was always going to have resolve how state bans on gender-affirming medical care can be reconciled with its approach to sex-based discrimination,” Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and CNN analyst, told the network Monday.
But appearances can be deceiving.
