He's the first known transgender lawyer to argue before Supreme Court.For Chase Strangio the mission 'is not lost on me'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN US

Published 8:00 AM EST, Sun December 1, 2024


CNN — A single 15-minute argument in the middle of this week could change Chase Strangio’s life – and the lives of so many people like him in the United States. Strangio, an attorney for the ACLU, is set to make history Wednesday as the first known transgender person to argue before the US Supreme Court. And he’ll do it as part of the most high-profile dispute on the docket this session. The case, US v. Skrmetti, challenges a Tennessee law that bans treatments, including hormone therapy and puberty blockers, for transgender minors and imposes civil penalties on doctors who violate the prohibitions.

Some two dozen similar laws have been enacted in recent years in Republican-led states. The high court’s ruling could have a cascading effect, not just for the families and physicians whose lives are deeply intertwined with its outcome – and who await Strangio’s appearance at the lectern with guarded hope – but also for the next chapter of civil rights law in the United States.

For Strangio, the professional path that’s led to this moment – in which he’ll have 15 minutes to present his argument to the justices – cannot be unwoven from his life outside the courtroom. “It is not lost on me that I will be standing there at the lectern at the Supreme Court in part because I was able to have access to the medical care that is the very subject of the case that we’re litigating,” he said recently.

The justices will decide whether Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for children and adolescents violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, a question that could allow a majority of the court to hold that laws targeting transgender people are unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/01/us/chase-strangio-supreme-court-transgender/index.html

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Full headline: He’s the first known transgender lawyer to argue before Supreme Court. For Chase Strangio, the mission ‘is not lost on me’

[barbtries]

1. it is so wrong

that 5 of them will be completely deaf to anything he presents.

We should have added more justices in the last 4 years. coulda shoulda woulda

[BumRushDaShow]

2. "We should have added more justices in the last 4 years. coulda shoulda woulda "

That would have required a Democratic super-majority as there were 2 (former-) (D)s there that refused to vote to change the 60-vote threshold.

[barbtries]

3. to my knowledge they didn't even try?

would have been worth a try.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I would think a whip count would have made it something

only attemptable as a Hail Mary.

Biden did come out with Commission to look at it (although he was opposed to enlarging the court) - https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/985738915/biden-sets-up-commission-to-study-supreme-court-reform (which would look at things like term limits)

The last that he did on it was recommendations for codifying ethics and looking at a Constitutional Amendment for term limits - https://www.npr.org/2024/07/29/nx-s1-5055094/biden-supreme-court

FACT SHEET: President Biden Announces Bold Plan to Reform the Supreme Court and Ensure No President Is Above the Law

Last year, some (D) Senators DID introduce a bill to expand the courts - Democrats Reintroduce Bill To Expand U.S. Supreme Court

S.1616 - Judiciary Act of 2023

The House had (D)s submit a companion bill -

H.R.3422 - Judiciary Act of 2023

Both ended up referred to their respective Judiciary Committees where they sit to this day.

[barbtries]

5. thank you

that I can understand (don't agree with President Biden on this point). At least they did try. That is important.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Most welcome

I expect the time to have done it would have been back in 2009 when we had a good honkin' majority in the House and Senate (which is how the ACA got done). But post-2010, notably with the Senate, it would be difficult getting things through.