2024 Supreme Court Preview Moot Court
United States v. Skrmetti (No. 23-477)
Issue:
In 2023, Tennessee enacted a law that forbids medical treatments for a minor to treat “distress from a discordance between the minor’s sex and asserted identity.” At issue in this case are puberty blockers and hormone treatments. The law allows the use of hormone treatments for other patients under 18 (not for the use of gender transition or gender dysphoria) and it permits hormone therapy for patients who were already receiving it prior to the law’s enactment. Three transgender teenagers along with their parents and a doctor brought a lawsuit challenging the law. The three minors have received puberty blockers and hormone therapy which seek to produce physiological changes to conform physical appearance with their gender identity; they claim Tennessee’s law is an unconstitutional violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. The United States has joined the case under a federal law that allows the government to intervene in private cases alleging violations of equal protection rights that are of general public importance.
Lower Court Opinion:
The United Sates Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit)
Party Briefs:
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed
Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 6, 2023 to January 5, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
Brief amici curiae of Foreign Non-Profit Organizations Advocating for the Rights of Transgender People filed. VIDED.
Brief amici curiae of Elliot Page, et al. filed. VIDED.
Motion to extend the time to file a response from January 5, 2024 to February 5, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
Brief amicus curiae of Alabama filed. VIDED
Brief of respondents Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General and Reporter for Tennessee, et al. in op
Reply of petitioner United States filed. (Distributed)
Supplemental Materials:
Supreme Court takes up challenge to ban on gender-affirming care. - SCOTUSblog
Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Tennessee Law Banning Transition Care for Minors- Abbie VanSickle, The New York Times
Supreme Court to Weigh Bans on Transgender Medical Treatments- Jess Bravin and Jan Wolfe, Wall Street Journal
Pressure Builds for Supreme Court to Address Transgender Cases - Jan Wolfe and Laura Kusisto, Wall Street Journal