Decency and sanity won another victory at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday thanks to a 6-3 ruling that allows the state of Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-altering procedures and surgeries for minors.
The court’s six conservatives overruled its three far-left liberals, with CBS News reporting that “the stay does not apply to the two transgender teenage plaintiffs in the case and the care they are seeking, but blocks the more expansive portions of the lower court’s decision.”
“The district court’s order promised to run for the life of this lawsuit, thus preventing Idaho from executing any aspect of its law for years. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs face no harm from the partial stay the State requests,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in an opinion joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The ACLU, which is representing the plaintiffs, criticized the ruling.
“While the court’s ruling today importantly does not touch upon the constitutionality of this law, it is nonetheless an awful result for transgender youth and their families across the state,” the groups said. “Today’s ruling allows the state to shut down the care that thousands of families rely on while sowing further confusion and disruption. Nonetheless, today’s result only leaves us all the more determined to defeat this law in the courts entirely, making Idaho a safer state to raise every family.”
CBS News added:
The legal battle involves Idaho’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act, or H.B. 71, which was signed into law by GOP Gov. Brad Little last year. The measure bars health care providers in the state from providing certain medications or surgeries “for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of or affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex if that perception is inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.” Among the restricted treatments are puberty blocking-drugs, hormone therapy and surgeries. Violators of the law may face up to 10 years in prison and fines.
Some individuals have criticized the practice of providing so-called “gender-affirming care” to minors, stating that it is cruel and inhumane to permanently alter a child’s body for political reasons.
These critics have also called for states to pass laws prohibiting minors from undergoing such procedures, instead allowing them to make such decisions once they have reached adulthood.
