The Justice Department Dismisses Failed Biden-Era Lawsuit Challenging Tennessee’s Law Protecting Minors from Experimental Sex-Change Medical Procedures

Today, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division dismissed with prejudice the ill-fated Biden-era challenge to Tennessee’s law protecting minors from horrific and experimental sex-change medical procedures. The Department dismissed its complaint in intervention because it does not believe challenging Tennessee’s law serves the public interest.

Last month, the Biden Administration’s challenge was soundly rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States when the 6-3 majority held that Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.[1] The court held that Tennessee had a rational basis for enforcing the law as it “responds directly” to the “uncertainty” and “ongoing debate” about the “risks and benefits” associated with these medical practices. The Biden administration filed its complaint in intervention after individual plaintiffs and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the law passed in 2023. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the individual plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their complaint.

Tennessee is one of 25 states with laws protecting minors from sex-change medical procedures.

“Last month, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee state law protecting vulnerable children from genital mutilation and other so-called ‘gender-affirming care,’” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.  “That was the right decision, and this Department of Justice will no longer be in the business of attacking laws like Tennessee’s that protect children.”

“The United States today undid one of the injustices the Biden administration inflicted upon the country by dismissing a lawsuit against a Tennessee law that protects minors from invasive and mutilating procedures,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to fight to protect the health and welfare of our children and defend states that seek to ban these barbaric practices.”