A group of more than 30 current and former Republican officials filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday condemning a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.

“States have no authority to overturn the decisions of capable parents who make informed medical choices for their children, choices supported by their doctors,” the filing asserts.

The Supreme Court is poised to examine a constitutional challenge to the law, which restricts access to puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and surgeries specifically intended for gender transition for individuals under the age of 18. Notably, the law does not restrict this care for non-transgender patients.

At least 25 states have implemented similar bans on gender-affirming medical care.

The Republican signatories include representatives from state legislatures, the George W. Bush administration, as well as the John McCain and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns. The group also includes Jordan Willow Evans, the nation’s first openly transgender elected Republican.

The signatories contend that the legislation is “nothing less than ‘a vast government overreach,'” echoing former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, who rejected a ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors in his state.

Hutchinson’s rejection was followed by a similar action from Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine against his state’s own proposed gender-affirming care ban. Both Hutchinson’s and DeWine’s vetoes were overturned by their respective state legislatures.

Republicans and political conservatives opposing the Tennessee law argue that they are against it due to their beliefs in limited government and respect for families – “in particular, the rights of parents to make crucial decisions about their children's upbringing and medical care.”

“Parents want their children to be safe, happy and healthy. Parents of transgender children are no different,” the filing states. “Reasonable individuals may have differing opinions on what is best for children, but the question here is who makes that decision: their parents or government officials?”

The filing also includes quotes from Republican former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – whose former staff are also represented among the amicus brief signatories.

On the presidential campaign trail in 2023, Christie stated that “parents are the ones best positioned to make these judgments” and “the government should [n]ever be interfering with the role of parents.”

Tennessee Republican legislators advocating for bans on transgender healthcare have defended the legislation in the face of the upcoming Supreme Court case, often stating that children should postpone receiving such care until they reach adulthood.

"Tennessee is committed to safeguarding children from permanent, life-altering decisions," Governor Bill Lee declared in an April 2023 post on the social media platform X following the Justice Department's assertion that the law infringes upon the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

In a statement addressing the Supreme Court case, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti also defended the legislation: "We vigorously defended Tennessee's law protecting minors from irreversible gender treatments and secured a thoughtful and well-reasoned opinion from the 6th Circuit.”

He added, “I anticipate concluding this battle in the United States Supreme Court. This case will provide much-needed clarification on whether the Constitution grants special protections for gender identity.”

The filing highlights that individuals and medical experts believe that withholding gender-affirming care from children experiencing gender dysphoria poses a danger to their well-being.

Prominent national medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and over 20 others, concur that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial, and medically essential.

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, indicates that hormone therapy can have a positive impact on the mental well-being of transgender youth. The research found that hormone therapy reduced depression and anxiety levels while increasing life satisfaction among transgender adolescents and teenagers.