Fresh out of Barnard College with a degree in political science, Riley is learning the ropes as a writer and reporter for GZERO. When she isn’t writing about global politics, you can find her making GZERO’s crossword puzzles, conducting research on American politics, or persisting in her lifelong quest to learn French. Riley spends her time outside of work grilling, dancing, and wearing many hats (both literally and figuratively).
On Wednesday, members of the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared ready to uphold a Tennessee law denying puberty-delaying medication, hormone therapy, or gender-affirming surgery to transgender youth, a decision that will hold precedent in more than 20 other states with similar laws.
The argument touched on parental rights, a precedent protecting transgender people from workplace discrimination, and, critically, whether the law discriminated on the basis of sex, which would entitle it to a stricter standard of judicial scrutiny.
The justices seemed poised to strike down the sex-based discrimination argument and rule that because scientific evidence about the safety of transitionary care for minors is contested, the question should be decided by legislatures, not judges. Such a decision would leave these issues to the states to decide. The court isn’t expected to rule until June, but it comes at a time when transgender issues are at the center of America’s culture wars.
