Supreme Court rules that Idaho can block transgender healthcare for minors

Monday’s ruling overturned a previous decision by a district court judge in the state

Supreme Court rules that Idaho can block transgender healthcare for minors (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The US Supreme Court has allowed Idaho to enforce a ban on minors receiving gender-affirming healthcare, overturning a district court judge’s previous decision.

The law – HB 71 – sought to prohibit minors in the state from receiving puberty blockers, hormones and other treatments. It was due to go into effect on 1 January 2024.

Under the law, clinicians would have faced up to 10 years in prison if they provided such treatment to those under 18.

Idaho officials filed an emergency request with the Supreme Court last year, asking that they allow the ban to go into effect while further litigation continues.

On Monday the Supreme Court’s liberal majority objected to the decision.

HB 71 – also known as the Vulnerbale Child Protection Act – was adopted by Idaho in 2023. However, before it could be put into effect, the families of two trangender teens sued the state’s attorney general and a local prosecutor in federal district court.

The children and their parents alleged that, without access to puberty blockers and estrogen, the two minor plaintiffs – aged 16 and 17 respectively – would likely suffer serious mental health problems.

Monday’s ruling overturned a previous decision by a district court judge in Idaho (Idaho Statesman)

Both attested to how the medical treatment improved their mental health and claimed that the ban violated protections laid out in the US Constitution.

Shortly after filing the suit, the plaintiffs asked the district court to issue a preliminary injunction, which the district court agreed to. The court issued a “universal injunction” – meaning state officials were prevented from enforcing the law completely and indefinitely until the litigation was concluded.

In Monday’s filing the Supreme Court liberal majorit granted the families permission to continue accessing their treatments, but allowed the state to press ahead largely with its enforcment of the law.

The US Supreme Court currently holds a 6-3 conservative majority, and the decision ruled that the district court’s injunction was too broad.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, in an opinion explaining his vote to allow the law to be enforced, said the lower court had gone “much further” than needed in putting the entire law on hold. The Supreme Court's intervention should be viewed as a "welcome development," he said.

“Early in the litigation below, the district court issued a preliminary injunction. Ordinarily, injunctions like these may go no further than necessary to provide interim relief tothe parties,” he Justice Gorsuch wrote.

HB 71 – also known as the Vulnerbale Child Protection Act – was adopted by Idaho in 2023 (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

“In this case, however, the district court went much further, prohibiting a State from enforcing any aspect of ts duly enacted law against anyone. Today, the Court stays the district court’s injunction to the extent it applies to nonparties, which is to say to the extent it provides ‘universal’ relief. That is a welcome development.”

Justices Brett Kavanugh, and Amy Coney Barrett also agreed with Justice Gorsuch in their own written opinions.

In a dissenting opinion, liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the case “presents numerous reasons for exercising restraint” but instead, the court had decided to step in and was guilty of “micromanaging” the lower courts.

HB 71 was signed by Idaho’s governor Brad Little in April 2023, adding the state to a grouping of more than 20 others that have passed such bans – including Kentucky and Tennessee. Many of these states face lawsuits challenging the harsh laws.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in 2023 alone, 510 bills anti-LGBTQ+ measures were introduced across the US; 137 of these bills attempted to limit healthcare for trans individuals.