LGBTQ Legal Issues

Top Montana court allows gender-affirming care for trans minors during litigation, citing privacy protections

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday cited state constitutional privacy protections when it upheld a judge’s decision to block a law that bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

Dec 12, 2024 11:52 AM CST

Lawyers spar in Supreme Court over constitutional rights in transgender health care case

The lengthy arguments this week in United States v. Skrmetti—a major case about whether a Tennessee law barring certain medical treatments for transgender minors violates the 14th Amendment—were marked by past positions, anticipation of future battles, a historical first and one justice’s curious silence.

Dec 5, 2024 2:15 PM CST

Chemerinsky: SCOTUS considers law prohibiting gender-affirming care—case of constitutionality, deep cultural division

The culture wars come to the Supreme Court Dec. 4 when it hears oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, which involves the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that prohibits gender affirming care for transgender youths. Twenty-six states have adopted such laws. An estimated 118,000 transgender teenagers, about 40% of transgender youths, live in states with bans on gender-affirming care.

Nov 27, 2024 8:45 AM CST

Texas AG sues pediatrician over gender-affirming care for youths

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against a Dallas-based pediatrician, accusing her of providing transition-related hormones in violation of a state ban on gender-affirming care for people under age 18.

Oct 18, 2024 11:50 AM CDT

Supreme Court’s sleepy-looking docket leaves room for potentially bigger cases to come

The U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term next week poised on the edge of uncertainty. The biggest case of the term may be one that isn’t even on the court’s docket yet.

Oct 3, 2024 12:04 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: Will the Supreme Court have a role in the presidential election as it enters a new term?

As the justices return to the bench on Oct. 7 for the new term, the unknowable question is whether the U.S. Supreme Court will play a role in the outcome of the November 2024 presidential election. Will this year be like 2000, when a close election was effectively decided by the court’s ruling in Bush v. Gore? Or will it be like 2020, when a close election did not raise any issues for the justices to decide?

Oct 2, 2024 8:53 AM CDT

9th Circuit allows 2 transgender girls to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity

A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that two transgender girls in Arizona should be allowed to play on school sports teams that are consistent with their gender identity.

Sep 12, 2024 11:07 AM CDT

Tennessee law denies transgender youths equal access to medical care, ABA says

Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, the ABA has argued in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sep 3, 2024 2:00 PM CDT

Supreme Court keeps block on Biden’s new Title IX regulations in some states

A divided Supreme Court refused to require some states to enforce new rules on how schools should handle complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination, leaving in place a ban on the provisions while lower-court battles continue.

Aug 20, 2024 9:45 AM CDT

8th Circuit allows Iowa book ban to take effect but rules for challengers on First Amendment issue

A federal appeals court on Friday allowed an Iowa law to take effect that polices books in school libraries, saying a federal judge who blocked the law erred in his analysis.

Aug 14, 2024 3:32 PM CDT

Gender-affirming health care should be protected, ABA delegates advise

The House of Delegates called for greater protection for gender-affirming health care at the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago on Monday.

Aug 5, 2024 3:10 PM CDT

6th Circuit refuses to block school’s pronoun policy; dissent makes belief-in-ghosts comparison

A federal appeals court has refused to block a school policy banning the misgendering of transgender students.

Jul 30, 2024 2:31 PM CDT

Michigan is latest to ban ‘gay and trans panic’ criminal defense

Michigan is the latest state to ban the “gay and trans panic” criminal defense. The American Bar Association has long called for legislative action to “curtail the availability and effectiveness” of the defense, saying that “successful gay and trans panic defenses constitute a miscarriage of justice.”

Jul 25, 2024 8:45 AM CDT

As a prosecutor, Kamala Harris ‘tried to bridge the tricky divide’

Before she became a U.S. senator, the vice president and the potential Democratic nominee for president, Kamala Harris was a prosecutor in California who opposed the death penalty but defended capital punishment on behalf of the state. After graduating from the school formerly known as the University of California Hastings…

Jul 23, 2024 3:40 PM CDT

Ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors will be reviewed by Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review the constitutionality of a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming surgeries, puberty blockers and hormones for transgender minors.

Jun 24, 2024 12:23 PM CDT