Local reps speak in defense of state law before SCOTUS hearing

There's a court case being heard this week in the United States Supreme Court that involves the Tennessee legislature, and two representatives of Madison County were front and center ahead of the hearing in Washington D.C.

The ACLU has a lawsuit filed against the state after it passed a law at the beginning of the 2023 legislative session.

"It was the first bill we passed, so it was the most important one we wanted to pass," said State Senator Ed Jackson.

The bill outlawed gender-modifying surgery for children in the state.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and General Assembly Majority Leader William Lambreth carried the bill through their respective houses, and it passed easily in both with a Republican super majority. 

"Nearly two dozen other states have adopted similar statutes to what we passed, but ACLU is coming after Tennessee because our law was one of the first and the best because it covered the most ground," Jackson said.

Before the hearing before SCOTUS on Wednesday, a group called Do No Harm Medicine sponsored a rally called Stop the Harm Let Kids Grow in support of the legislature in Washington on the steps of the Supreme Court building earlier in the day.

About 10 legislators from Tennessee went to Washington for the rally and hearing, and four were chosen to speak at the hearing. Two of them were Jackson and State Representative Chris Todd - both of whom represent at least part of Madison County.

"There's a reason that there are laws that say you have to be 16 to drive or 21 to drink or 18 to even vote," Jackson said. "The brain isn't fully developed until we're in our 20s, but there are physicians and psychiatric doctors who say it's OK to allow children as young as 6 or 7 years old to decide they don't want to be whatever gender they were born as and get surgery to transition to the other gender.

"I just don't agree with that. How many parents would allow their 6-year-old child to get a tattoo that is hard to make disappear? This is even bigger than that."

The complaint against the state has gone through several courts, but Jackson said it's gotten enough push back in enough courts that it finally got appealed to the Supreme Court.

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news