Justice Clarence Thomas called out courts in a concurring opinion Wednesday for assuming “self-described experts” are always correct.
The Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s law banning child sex change procedures, finding it does not violate the Equal Protection Clause.
“This case carries a simple lesson: In politically contentious debates over matters shrouded in scientific uncertainty, courts should not assume that self-described experts are correct,” Thomas wrote in a concurrence.
Courts should defer to legislatures over experts, Thomas wrote, noting medical professionals “declared a consensus around the efficacy of treating children’s gender dysphoria with puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions, despite mounting evidence to the contrary.”
Justice Thomas writes in his concurrence:
“This case carries a simple lesson: In politically contentious debates over matters shrouded in scientific uncertainty, courts should not assume that self-described experts are correct.” pic.twitter.com/eT1NGDqOPE
— Katelynn Richardson (@katesrichardson) June 18, 2025
“They have dismissed grave problems undercutting the assumption that young children can consent to irreversible treatments that may deprive them of their ability to eventually produce children of their own,” Thomas wrote. “They have built their medical determinations on concededly weak evidence. And, they have surreptitiously compromised their medical recommendations to achieve political ends.”
“Detransitioners” who regret undergoing medical procedures raise another cause for concern, Thomas wrote.
“States have an interest in ensuring that minor patients have the time and capacity to fully understand the irreversible treatments they may undergo,” he said.
In May, the Trump Department of Health and Human Services published a report finding that supposedly evidence-based medical interventions offered to treat children for gender dysphoria “carry risk of significant harms including infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.”
Trump banned agencies from citing guidelines based on “junk science” from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health in a January executive order that cut federal funding for child sex changes.
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