Gianforte Calls on Montana Supreme Court to Uphold Trans Surgery Ban After Federal Ruling

HELENA — Montana Governor Greg Gianforte praised the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday for upholding Tennessee laws that restrict certain medical treatments for minors, calling the decision a validation of similar protections Montana has sought to implement.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Skrmetti upheld Tennessee’s law prohibiting certain medical treatments for “transgender” minors. In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that Tennessee’s law does not classify on the basis of sex or transgender status and therefore requires only rational basis review, the most lenient form of constitutional scrutiny.

The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Roberts, held that Tennessee’s law “prohibits healthcare providers from administering puberty blockers or hormones to minors for certain medical uses, regardless of a minor’s sex.” The Court found the law rationally related to Tennessee’s findings that such treatments “can lead to the minor becoming irreversibly sterile, having increased risk of disease and illness, or suffering from adverse and sometimes fatal psychological consequences.”

Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Jackson and Kagan, dissented, arguing that Tennessee’s law “plainly classifies on the basis of sex” and should be subject to intermediate scrutiny.

Justice Thomas, writing separately in concurrence, took aim at medical expertise claims, stating: “In politically contentious debates over matters shrouded in scientific uncertainty, courts should not assume that self-described experts are correct.” Thomas criticized the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), arguing it “bases its guidance on insufficient evidence and allows politics to influence its medical conclusions.”

The decision comes as Montana’s own Youth Health Protection Act faces legal challenges.

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decisive ruling, siding with states seeking to protect minor children from invasive medical treatments that can permanently alter their healthy, developing bodies,” Gianforte said in a statement. “The Court’s majority opinion includes arguments we made in our brief.”

Montana’s Legal Involvement

Gianforte filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in October 2024, supporting Tennessee’s position. The governor noted that the Court’s majority opinion incorporated arguments from his brief, particularly references to European countries that have restricted similar treatments for minors.

“Many European countries have retreated from providing these permanent, life-altering, and experimental medical and surgical procedures,” Gianforte stated, citing nations including Norway, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Denmark.

In 2023, Gianforte signed Senate Bill 99, known as Montana’s Youth Health Protection Act, which mirrors provisions in the Tennessee law. The Montana legislation currently faces judicial review, with the governor filing a brief before the Montana Supreme Court in February 2025 asking that the law be allowed to take effect.

“As the Montana Youth Health Protection Act works its way through the judiciary, I hope judges will recognize this decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, uphold the law, and protect children across Montana,” Gianforte said.

Legislative Author’s Perspective

State Rep. John Fuller, who authored SB 99 when he served in the Senate, praised the Supreme Court’s decision but expressed skepticism about its impact on Montana’s case.

“I’m grateful SCOTUS delivered the common sense decision it did, however, I doubt it will affect SB 99’s reversal by the [Montana Supreme Court] because Montana’s [Supreme Court] ruled SB 99 was an infringement on family health care privacy, not a violation of the 14th Amendment equal treatment under the law provision,” Fuller said. “Determining that sterilizing children is a privacy right is mental gymnastics of the highest order.”

Fuller’s comments highlight a key legal distinction: while the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on federal Equal Protection grounds, Montana’s Supreme Court based its preliminary injunction on state constitutional privacy rights, potentially limiting the federal precedent’s influence on the state case.

Governor’s Philosophical Framework

In his Supreme Court brief, Gianforte emphasized the state’s interest in protecting children, writing that “family is the building block of a free society” and that states have the “policy power to protect health and safety of its citizens, which necessarily includes children.”

The governor also addressed the treatment of children struggling with gender identity: “They deserve love, compassion, and respect. They deserve no ridicule, animus, or seclusion. They are entitled to protection, not exploitation.”

Gianforte concluded that while children’s “young minds and bodies are still developing, they should not be subjected to experimental and permanent, life-altering medical and surgical procedures.”