In a recent ruling, the court addressed a case that alleged a violation of rights for a "suspected class" under the law.
According to the ruling, both the plaintiffs and the federal government argued that the Act infringed upon the rights of transgender individuals, claiming that they should be recognized as a suspect class. However, the court pointed out that neither the Supreme Court nor the current court had acknowledged transgender status as a suspect class. As a result, the ruling stated that the rational basis review would apply until this changes.
The court also emphasized that the recognition of a new suspect class requires certain considerations, such as being a politically powerless group. In this case, the court found that the plaintiffs' chances of being recognized as a new suspect class were not improved by other factors highlighted in previous cases, which the Supreme Court had not done for decades.
The ruling further noted that while society's treatment of individuals with gender dysphoria may have been lamentable in the past, it is difficult to argue that the democratic process remains broken on this issue today.
The President of the United States, the Department of Justice, Title VII, which protects transgender individuals in the employment setting, fourteen states with specific laws allowing some of the treatments sought in this case, twenty states supporting the plaintiffs through an amicus brief, major medical organizations, and several large law firms all support the plaintiffs.
These factors, according to the ruling, do not indicate a skewed or unfair political process. Instead, they suggest that inviting a greater political dysfunction problem, such as the difficulty of amending the Constitution if the federal courts err in occupying the field, would be unnecessary.
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