Montana judge temporarily blocks enforcement of law to ban gender-affirming medical care for minors

direct link to the ruling (48 pages)

analysis of the opinion on the Law Dork Substack:

Noting the Montana Constitution’s heightened protections, Marks found that strict scrutiny — the highest level of scrutiny laws face under such challenges — applied. He did so by concluding that “the Court is unpersuaded by Defendants’ argument that S.B. 99 does not discriminate based on sex simply because it proscribes both minor females and minor males from receiving gender-affirming care.” Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision, Marks wrote, “under S.B. 99, a minor’s sex plays an ‘unmistakable and impermissible role’ in the determination of who may receive certain treatments.”

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Relatedly, Marks also focused in on another bill passed by in Montana, “An Act Expanding the Right to Try Act” (S.B. 422), which makes Montanans eligible to “investigational” treatment of any “drug, biological product, or device“ that has successfully passed phase 1 of a clinical trial and “remains under investigation in a United States Food and Drug Administration-approved clinical trial.” The law, Marks noted, “contemplates informed consent in the context of minors,” requiring a parent or guardian’s “written informed consent” to such “investigational” treatment.

“The Court finds it fascinating that S.B. 99 and S.B. 422 were passed in the same legislative session,” he wrote. Pointing out the inherent contradictions, Marks stated, “Read together, S.B. 99 and S.B. 422 authorize parents to give consent for their minor children to engage in experimental medical treatments, regardless of efficacy or risk, that cannot be blocked by the State unless the minor is transgender and seeking medical treatment for gender dysphoria in line with the recognized standard of care.”

"The Court finds it fascinating..." is judge-speak for "this is some hypocritical bullshit".

statement about the ruling from Zooey Zephyr, Montana's first trans state legislator: https://twitter.com/ZoAndBehold/status/1707082302394699875 (and a non-twitter mirror of the embedded image)

random annoying thing I noticed, while I was googling to try to find the actual press release instead of an image embedded in a tweet, some of Google's suggested searches for "Zooey Zephyr..." are "Zooey Zephyr real name" and "Zooey Zephyr birth name". just Google helping deadname a transgender public official. good job guys.