Amy Coney Barrett's Mind-Boggling Question in Supreme Court Trans Case
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barret asked a team of ACLU lawyers advocating for trans rights if trans people had ever really been discriminated against.
The court on Wednesday held oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a landmark case originating from Tennessee that could decide just how far the federal government has to go, if at all, to protect the rights of trans people. In 2023, Senate Bill 1 became law in Tennessee, banning hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors and imposing civil penalties on doctors who dont fall in line. Skrmetti is challenging S.B. 1, but the conservative justices dont seem to be having any of it.
One question I have is, at least as far as I can think of, we dont have a historythat I know ofwe dont have a history of de jure discrimination against transgender people, Coney Barrett said during oral arguments on Wednesday morning. You point out in your brief that in the last three years there might have been these laws, but before that we might have had private societal discrimination.
Is there a history that I dont know about where we have de jure discrimination?
By de jure Coney Barrett means federally mandated, and she goes on to note that other minority groups have experienced that kind of discrimination, while to her knowledge trans people havent.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/amy-coney-barrett-mind-boggling-194718116.html
Irish_Dem
(58,803 posts)Attilatheblond
(4,411 posts)She's got her head up somebody's ass.
Silent Type
(7,140 posts)against transgenders at state level.
In fact, the Civil Rights Act specifically makes it illegal.
"Federal laws against sex and disability discrimination make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, harass, or otherwise discriminate against you because of your gender identity, gender transition, sex assigned at birth, or transgender status. This was definitively clarified by the Supreme Court case Bostock v. . . . . ."
https://transequality.org/resources/know-your-rights-employment#:~:text=Federal%20laws%20against%20sex%20and,Supreme%20Court%20case%20Bostock%20v.
I don't think we had discriminitory LAWS at Federal level, although we damn sure had a bunch of crappy people who love bashing minority groups.
sinkingfeeling
(53,129 posts)The Department of Defense (DoD) ended the ban on transgender service members in 2016. Bill Clinton, via Executive Order, prohibited discrimination in federal hiring (1998) and Obama expanded that with Executive Order 13672 to include federal contractors.
Then came the first TSF administrations roll-back.
https://transequality.org/news/discrimination-administration
Here's just one entry:
October 6, 2017: The Justice Department released a sweeping "license to discriminate" allowing federal agencies, government contractors, government grantees, and even private businesses to engage in illegal discrimination, as long as they can cite religious reasons for doing so.
underpants
(186,984 posts)Attorney Chase Strangio, the first transgender lawyer to argue in front of the Supreme Court, also later addressed Coney Barretts tone-deaf question.
Transgender people are characterized as having a different gender identity than their birth sex. That is distinguishing, Strangio said. I would also point, if I could, to the history of discriminationand there are many examplesof in-law discrimination, exclusions from the military, criminal bans on cross-dressing, and others.
2naSalit
(93,098 posts)Discriminatory bathroom and sports bans have been around for a while. Long enough for her to know about them.
Jeezus, she's such a fucking slaphead.
Response to Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed