Justice Department ends lawsuit against Tennessee law banning transgender surgeries

President Donald Trump’s administration ended the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) support for a lawsuit that challenges the legality of a Tennessee law that prohibits doctors from performing transgender surgeries on minors and giving them transgender drugs.

In a letter written to the clerk of the United States Supreme Court, Deputy Solicitor General Curtis E. Gannon said the DOJ is no longer challenging the law. However, he asked that the court still issue a ruling on the matter because it will set precedent for the lower courts to follow.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill to prevent transgender procedures from being performed on minors in March 2023, which subsequently faced legal challenges from some residents in the state and President Joe Biden’s DOJ. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in October of last year and has already heard oral arguments.

Residents — represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, and Akin Gump — and Biden’s DOJ argued that the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Those lawyers made the case during oral arguments that a blanket prohibition on those procedures for minors constitutes a form of “sex” discrimination.

Lawyers representing Tennessee argued that the law is a simple health and safety regulation that protects all minors from risky procedures and does not discriminate on the basis of sex. 

In the letter to the court, Gannon said Trump’s DOJ does not believe the law violates the Constitution. 

“Following the change in administration, the [DOJ] has reconsidered the United States’ position in this case,” Gannon said. “The purpose of this letter is to notify the court that the government’s previously stated views no longer represent the United States’ position.”

The letter states that the new administration “would not have intervened to challenge” the law.

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