The Supreme Court handed down a monumental 6-3 decision on Wednesday, upholding Tennessee’s ban on so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors — a resounding win for conservative lawmakers and a critical blow to radical transgender ideology. The ruling reinforces the constitutional authority of states to protect children from irreversible medical procedures and experimental hormone regimens pushed by far-left activists.

The Tennessee law, known as SB 1, prohibits hormone therapies, puberty blockers, and surgeries intended to enable a child to “identify with” a gender that conflicts with their biological sex. Doctors who violate the law face civil penalties. Though the law also bans gender-transition surgeries on minors, that specific portion was not challenged in this case.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the Court’s conservative majority, made clear that the judiciary has no role in substituting policy preferences for constitutional interpretation.

“This case carries with it the weight of fierce scientific and policy debates about the safety, efficacy, and propriety of medical treatments in an evolving field,” Roberts wrote. “The voices in these debates raise sincere concerns; the implications for all are profound. The Equal Protection Clause does not resolve these disagreements.”

Roberts also clarified that judges must exercise restraint rather than act as policymakers. The ruling applies the lowest level of constitutional scrutiny to such laws, making it easier for states to defend child-protection statutes in future legal challenges.

Joining Roberts were Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett — forming a solid pro-Constitution majority. The Court’s three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented, continuing their pattern of judicial activism on cultural issues.

The Tennessee law had been challenged by three transgender-identifying minors, their parents, and a physician. The Biden administration joined the suit in a last-ditch effort to derail state-led protections for children. Federal courts issued split decisions, setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court.

But the legal tide turned after President Donald J. Trump’s reelection, which signaled a sweeping return to constitutional order and traditional values. Upon taking office again, Trump’s Justice Department reversed the previous administration’s position, withdrawing federal support from the lawsuit and siding with Tennessee.

The Court's decision is expected to influence similar laws already passed in roughly half of U.S. states. Many of these statutes have been tangled in legal disputes fueled by activist judges and the Biden DOJ. This ruling now clears a path for enforcement.

The plaintiffs had leaned heavily on the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which expanded Title VII employment protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. But the Court declined to extend that rationale to the medical regulation of minors — a distinction conservatives have long argued is both logical and necessary.

Tennessee successfully argued that its law is rooted not in sex-based discrimination, but in safeguarding minors from life-altering procedures during critical stages of development. The state emphasized its duty to encourage children to embrace their biological reality — a message that resonated with the Court.

With this ruling, President Trump’s America First vision for protecting families, restoring sanity in medicine, and pushing back against far-left gender ideology has taken a giant step forward.